Boeing managers have their work cut out for them in 1998 and beyond. After Boeing's first loss in 50 years last year, they must forge a new company, solve assembly line problems and implement new initiatives while raising the production rate. But senior managers may get a boost from extended airline demand. Philip M. Condit, Boeing chairman and CEO, said the number of new aircraft orders industry-wide as a percentage of the world's commercial transport fleet has been running at a level of about 8% for the past two years.
John Willacker has been appointed vice president-space launch operations, effective Apr. 1, of The Aerospace Corp. of Los Angeles. He will succeed Chet Whitehair, who will be retiring. Willacker has been general manager of the Launch Programs Div. and will be succeeded by Ray Johnson. Jim Gilchrist (see photo) has become vice president-laboratory operations. He has succeeded Hugh Rugge, who has retired. Alex Liang has succeeded Gilchrist as general manager of the Vehicle Systems Div.
Michael Fountain, Geoff Corpe and Stephen Chan have been appointed regional chief executives for MSAS Cargo International Inc. for, respectively, the Americas/Pacific, Europe, and South and East Asia. They all were executive directors in those areas. Stephen Chipping has been named development director for Scandinavia and had been commercial director. David Kennedy has become marketing and planning director, and Phyllis Berry station manager in Houston.
Robert S. Bahlman has been promoted to senior vice president/chief financial officer/treasurer from controller of Midwest Express Airlines. Carol Skornicka has been promoted to senior vice president-career development/secretary/corporate counsel from vice president/general counsel. And, Mary Blundell has been named director of human resources.
Howmet Corp. of Greenwich, Conn., is seeking aerospace applications for a highly elastic and resilient amorphous metal called Vitreloy. The new alloy, developed at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and marketed by Amorphous Technologies International (ATI) of Laguna Niguel, Calif., is composed of 61% zirconium as well as copper, titanium, nickel and beryllium. Howmet is manufacturing Vitreloy, which has a noncrystalline structure, under license from ATI using a proprietary vacuum-casting process.
BOEING PLANS TO TAKE a $10-million stake in Israel's RADA Electronic Industries, a manufacturer of electronic systems and automated avionics test equipment. The investment would give the Seattle-based aerospace manufacturer a 42% share in RADA and make it the company's largest shareholder. Boeing, which estimates the world market for test equipment at about $1 billion, made the investment through its new entrepreneurial arm, Boeing Enterprises. c
European aerospace and defense industry leaders are still struggling to define the parameters, let alone reach a consensus, of a wide-ranging restructuring and consolidation plan.
LUFTHANSA REPORTED A 45% JUMP in its 1997 net income to DM800 million ($438 million) and a 10.7% rise in revenues to DM23 billion--new all-time highs for the German carrier. The results were better than expected and were attributed largely to alliances with other airlines, cost cutting and the favorable mark-dollar exchange rate. Load factor improved 3.2% to 73.5%. Audited results will be released in April.
Continental Airlines is forging ahead with Air France despite the absence of a U.S.-France bilateral accord and the French carrier's unclear policy on transatlantic alliances. Earlier this month, the two carriers reaffirmed ``a mutual commitment to their marketing alliance initiated in October 1996.'' Air France nevertheless intends to continue a similar business agreement with Delta Air Lines. And Continental's lineup with Northwest Airlines (KLM's ally) is not expected to pose a problem.
Ghassem Asrar has been appointed associate administrator for earth science of NASA. He has been chief scientist for the Earth Observing System at NASA headquarters in Washington.
Cdr. George W. Hoover (USN, Ret.), a U.S. space program pioneer and the innovator behind numerous avionics devices, died on Mar. 12. He was 82. A combat-proven fixed-wing and rotary-wing pilot with more than 5,000 hr. and 100 aircraft types in his logbook, Hoover devoted a lifetime to making the cockpit a more efficient control center.
AMERICAN AIRLINES PLANS to order an additional seven Boeing 777-200IGW aircraft, bringing the number of 777s the airline has on order to 18. Initial deliveries of the 777 are scheduled to begin in 1999. The jets would be used to augment service to Asian markets. In addition, Continental Airlines has converted options for 15 737-900s into firm orders, with deliveries commencing in May 2001. The airline also took options on another 25 of the aircraft. Continental is scheduled to receive 64 Boeing transports this year.
A team of U.S. Air Force, academic and industry scientists recently transmitted 7.36 kw. of laser energy through about 6 ft. of commercial optical fiber to cut a 0.5-in.-thick stainless steel plate. A chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL), similar to that planned for the USAF's Boeing 747-based Airborne Laser aircraft, was used for the experiment. A demonstration at the service research laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland AFB, N.M., was seen as a breakthrough, producing high energy levels with a COIL, then redirecting it via 900-micron-dia.
Howard M. Rosenberg has become director of contracts and estimating for Lockheed Martin Michoud Space Systems of New Orleans. He was director of commercial contracts for Lockheed Martin Aerostructures.
Aer Lingus Chief Executive Gary McGann is optimistic that the sale of the airline's Team Aer Lingus aircraft maintenance organization to Danish FLS Aerospace will proceed after due diligence is complete. The sale is complicated by guarantees Aer Lingus made to its labor force in 1989-90. The divestiture is part of a so-far successful plan to concentrate on the core business of the airline.
Regional carrier Crossair posted net profits of SF 43.2 million ($29.4 million) in 1997, nearly double those of the previous year. Passenger traffic was up 19% to 4.7 million. On Mar. 29, the carrier will start collaboration with its new French affiliate, Crossair Europe. The affiliate will operate from EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg with two Saab 340s leased from Crossair. Services will initially consist of three daily flights to Milan, with two to Venice and one to Marseille to be added in early May.
OFFICIALS OF DALLAS-BASED Beal Aerospace Technologies Inc. said last week they are developing a three-stage launch vehicle designed to place multiple payloads into low-Earth orbit. First launch of the 1-million-lb. BA-1 rocket is scheduled for 2000, and would take place on Sombrero Island in the Caribbean. Future plans call for development of the BA-2 reusable vehicle for launching payloads into geostationary orbit. The company's CEO is financier Andrew Beal.
The Singapore government seems to be dropping an earlier focus on building an aerospace manufacturing industry to pursue more lucrative aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) business. In his keynote speech at the Asian Aerospace '98 show late last month, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Tony Tan Keng Yam said his country was ideally positioned to become an MRO hub.
IPTN OF INDONESIA, TEAMED with Thomson-CSF of France, have been selected to supply four maritime patrol aircraft to the United Arab Emirates. Thomson-CSF will supply the mission avionics for the IPTN CN-235-200. The $150-million contract price, announced without a work-share breakdown between IPTN as prime and Thomson, includes four aircraft completely equipped with a maritime mission suite that will have radar, infrared, sonobuoy processing and electronic support measures.
An initial Chilean air force (Fuerza Aerea de Chile) comparison of candidates in its fighter competition has rated Boeing's F/A-18C first, Saab's JAS 39 Gripen second, Lockheed Martin's F-16 third and Dassault's Mirage 2000-5 last, according to U.S. officials. The Chilean air force's technical evaluation, which established the ranking, is a major step in selecting a new fighter, according to military and aerospace officials. The initial contract is for 16-20 fighters, but this is seen as the first step in larger Chilean and regional sales.
The Naval Air Systems Command in Arlington, Va., the Army's telecommunications training center at Ft. Gordon, Ga., and other U.S. military facilities are adding high-capacity optical fiber local-area networks (LANs) using an air-blown fiber installation process. Called FutureFlex, the economical and easily adaptable system was developed by the Sumitomo Electric Lightwave Corp. of Research Triangle, N.C. It uses either compressed air or dry nitrogen to blow small, lightweight, multifiber-bundles into previously installed tube cables.
Vernon L. Fotheringham has been named vice chairman of the board of Angel Technologies of St. Louis. He is vice chairman/founder of the Advanced Radio Telecom Corp.
