U.S. and French aviation authorities are investigating whether Air France illegally--but possibly unknowingly--transported more than 900 oxygen generators into the U.S. on two separate flights earlier this year.
Air traffic growth studies project increased route fragmentation in transpacific markets, which would limit demand for proposed 600-800-passenger transports. According to the Geneva-based Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), between 1984-96, non-hub airports in Asia increased their share of transpacific departures to almost 11% from 6%. The share of transpacific departures from the Americas out of non-hubs rose to almost 12% of departures from less than 1% in the same time period.
Photograph: Sikorsky reports encouraging sales of its S-70A helicopters outside the U.S. Cost-cutting efforts and continuous process improvements are reflected in the bottom-line performance of U.S. aerospace/defense companies, whose second-quarter earnings sustained their long-running uptrend. For companies that have a sizable stake in the commercial aircraft market, healthy sales in that part of the industry also are contributing to a strong quarter.
The longest 737 ever built, made its first flight July 31. The 129.5-ft.-long aircraft departed Renton, Wash., for a 3-hr. 5-min. test flight over the Straits of San Juan de Fuca and northwestern Washington state before returning to Boeing Field in Seattle. The aircraft reached an altitude of 17,000 ft. and performed flawlessly, according to Boeing pilots Mike Hewett and Jim McRoberts. The 737-800 is capable of carrying up to 189 passengers in a single class. Certification is scheduled for February with first delivery to German carrier Hapag-Lloyd a month later.
Photograph: International Launch Services Atlas 2AS carrying Japanese Superbird-C lifts off from Launch Complex 36B at Cape Canaveral on 690,000-lb. thrust. The $200-million mission will broaden Japanese commercial competition. The successful launch of the $200-million Japanese Superbird-C mission on board an Atlas 2AS booster has propelled Japan's communications satellite operators into a new competitive commercial era.
Photograph: Charges that Iran test fired a Chinese antiship cruise missile hardened the proliferation concerns of lawmakers like Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a leading China critic. U.S. intelligence claims that China is the world's worst proliferator of equipment and technology associated with weapons of mass destruction, but nuclear experts see openings for joint counterproliferation efforts with Beijing nonetheless. The latest U.S.
Photograph: Dutch flag-carrier KLM operates a fleet of 92 aircraft, including 10 Boeing 767-300ERs. Alliance partner Northwest has a fleet of 401 aircraft. Northwest Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines patched up their differences last week, agreeing to be alliance partners but not equity partners. Settling a festering boardroom squabble that landed in the U.S.
Hainan Airlines, China's first carrier to list on the Shanghai stock exchange, is expanding its regional fleet with delivery of two of 10 Fairchild Metro 23s that it ordered in March. Five more are to be delivered by the end of 1997, with the remaining three coming next year. The airline made news in 1994 by becoming the first in China to attract foreign investment, when financier George Soros bought nearly a 25% stake in it for $25 million.
Algernon Yau has been appointed general manager for planning and international affairs and Albert Yau head of cargo sales for Dragonair in Hong Kong. Algernon Yau succeeds Augustus Tang, who is returning to Cathay Pacific Airways.
Armand D. Mancini has been appointed vice president-finance of the Orbital Imaging Corp., Dulles, Va. He held the same position with the Orbital Communication and Information Services Group. Other vice presidents named were: Edward D. Nicastri, engineering and operations; Marshall B. Faintich, strategic development; Mark G. Pastrone, marketing; and Steven M. Cox, international sales. Nicastri was vice president-advanced projects of Orbital's Space Systems Group. Faintich was cofounder/chief technical officer of the Trifid Corp.
The European Investment Bank is lending $85 million to EgyptAir to modernize its medium-haul fleet. The loan will help finance the purchase of four Airbus A321-200 aircraft, as well as ground equipment, training and initial spare parts. Services to Europe account for nearly 40% of all EgyptAir's traffic. The airline, which operates 39 aircraft, serves 76 cities in 49 countries.
Andres Zellweger has become dean of graduate programs and research at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Fla. He was director of aviation research for the FAA.
China's proliferation record has improved despite serious and persistent breaches, Clinton Administration officials insist. They say the major nonproliferation treaties China has signed since 1992 mark a sharp departure from Beijing's declared policy favoring nuclear proliferation, avowed in the 1960s as a means of ``breaking the hegemony of the superpowers.''
Photograph: Under the current mini-spaceplane technology development program, this composite center fuselage and wing box section is being built for structural testing. The U.S.
Have stopped all Slingsby T-3A Firefly pilot-screening flights after an engine failure at the Air Force Academy. This follows a fatal T-3A crash on June 25, the third at Colorado Springs in 21/2 years. Since early 1995, six cadets and instructors have died in crashes involving the new training aircraft. The suspension was ordered by Gen. Lloyd Newton, chief of Air Education and Training Command, after a T-3A's engine quit during a landing July 23. The indefinite suspension of all flights involves both the academy and the service's Hondo, Tex., pilot-screening base.
Has been named president and chief operating officer of Gulfstream Aerospace. He replaces Fred Breidenbach, who resigned. Johnson, an engineer, had over 28 years' experience with Boeing. His last position was vice president and general manager of the Everett Div. Gulfstream is in the process of boosting production to 60 aircraft a year.
Formally cleared the merger of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas last week. The move was a foregone conclusion after a last-minute deal hammered out between Boeing and the EC was approved on July 25 by an advisory committee of competition experts from European Union member states.
James W. Cuminale is senior vice president/general counsel of PanAmSat Corp. He testified last week before the U.S. Senate Commerce subcommittee on communications on reforming global satellite organizations (see p.19). Excerpts follow:
Photograph: Yet another long-range reconnaissance aircraft operated by the 55th Wing is the RC-135U Combat Sent. It is fitted with sensors designed to measure and analyze capabilities of foreign weapon systems. JIM HASELTINE The rare RC-135S Cobra Ball is only one in a series of legendary, classified reconnaissance aircraft types built over the last three decades by the publicity-shy Raytheon E-Systems Greenville, Tex., division.
Photograph: The first production T-6A Texan 2 trainer is under construction and is scheduled to fly in the second quarter of 1998. Raytheon Aircraft Co. is making minor changes to the design of its Model 4000 Hawker Horizon business jet to improve performance, and is preparing to begin production of the first T-6A Texan 2 aircraft that is scheduled to make its first flight early in 1998. The company introduced the Horizon at the 1996 National Business Aviation Assn. show.
For launch services for a whopping 516 satellites during an 11-year period. Late last month, the company requested bids for launches for Celestri, its proposed system for high-speed, interactive data and video (see. p. 28), the Iridium constellation beyond the year 2003, any follow-on mobile communications network and unspecified noncommercial satellites. Meanwhile, Motorola announced it has made the first transmissions from an Iridium satellite to prototype pagers at the company's Chandler, Ariz., facility.
Federal Express Corp. is scheduled to begin operating nonstop flights from Osaka, Japan, to its hub in Memphis, Tenn., on Sept. 1, allowing the carrier to offer the first ``next business day'' shipping from major Asian cities to most North American cities. A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is being equipped with sleeping quarters for the pilots, since two crews will be required for the 12-hr., 7,000-mi. flight.
Budget constraints have forced a 14% reduction in long-term spending for Japan's space activities, hitting a variety of programs, from the unmanned Hope spaceplane to a lunar surveyor and Earth observation satellites.
Got a boost last week when the U.K.'s new Labour government said it was ready to join the seven other partner nations in the program and request proposals from Airbus Military Co. for procuring the new transport. The decision clears the way for the Airbus Industrie subsidiary to begin prelaunch activities, which include further design work and detailed cost studies. But the U.K.
