Airbus is close to launching an increased maximum-takeoff and long-range version of the A321neo that it seeks to position as a Boeing 757 replacement. The manufacturer is briefing potential customers, but has not yet made a decision to proceed. An Airbus official says the new version is still in a project study.
Moody’s Investors Service believes the European transport infrastructure industry will remain stable over the next 12-18 months on growth in traffic volume. “We expect EU airport passenger levels to grow by 2-6% in 2014 and 1-4% in 2015, mainly driven by an increase in airline capacity,” says senior Moody’s analyst Joanna Fic.
The steady drop in oil prices is not yet raising concerns at Boeing or on Wall Street that airlines will alter their emerging pattern of lining up a historically high percentage of new deliveries as replacements for less efficient, older-generation aircraft. “The price of oil still could fall a long way before our planes are anything but compelling,” Boeing Chairman and CEO Jim McNerney said last week.
Mergers and acquisitions activity in the U.S. aerospace and defense industry slowed in the third quarter, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Total deal volume slipped to the lowest level in 11 quarters, and was the weakest since the second quarter of 2005. The trend, reported by Aviation Week last month, comes as many A&D participants had once thought this year would mark the beginning of a wave of strategic M&A in Western industry. Divestitures continue to remain favorite business-shaping tools as companies divide or slice off divisions deemed non-core, slow-growth or worse.
Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded Kremlin-controlled aircraft maker Irkut, a subsidiary of United Aircraft Corp., based on Russia’s worsening economic situation. The U.S.-based credit rating agency says it still believes Irkut and other state-backed companies will enjoy state support if they encounter “financial distress.” Not every state-backed Russian company will see ratings downgraded, albeit because they were lower already. For instance, Moody’s reaffirmed outlooks on Russian Helicopters.
Executive Editor Jim Asker discusses the Japanese regional jet project with Asia-Pacific Bureau Chief Bradley Perrett and Jens Flottau, managing editor for commercial aviation.
We look at the new features being introduced in the cockpit of Gulfstream's G600 and the Pratt & Whitney PW800 engine that will power the new ultra-long-range business jet.
Walter Heerdt has been named senior vice president-VIP and executive jets for Lufthansa Technik. He succeeds Hans Schmitz, who will be retiring. Heerdt has been senior vice president-marketing and sales for the Lufthansa Technik Group.
Michael Lopez-Alegria has been to orbit four times – three of them in a NASA space shuttle and once on a Russian Soyuz capsule. At the recent International Astronautical Congress in Toronto, the former U.S. Navy test pilot described the differences taking off and landing in the two vehicles. As you will hear, they are very different indeed.
Despite ongoing budget cuts that are forcing the Army to shrink, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says U.S. land forces will remain relevant now and into the future. The Army will be tapped to respond to potential threats in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific—often thought of in terms of air- and sea-based response.
NASA’s $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope program was rebaselined in 2011 and has since adhered to its revised cost and schedule estimates for a planned launch atop an Ariane 5 ECA rocket in 2018, but technology challenges could threaten the agency’s ability to keep it on track.
The search for MH370 has resumed with refined Inmarsat data in play, although skeptics maintain that searchers still do not have all the information they need
Embraer plans to formally roll out the first prototype of its KC-390 military transport aircraft during a ceremony at its Gaviao Peixoto facility near Sao Paulo on Oct. 21. The aircraft will be the largest built in Brazil. The company hopes to fly the IAE V2500-powered aircraft by year-end.
Prox Dynamics has unveiled a night-capable version of its PD-100 Black Hornet unmanned air vehicle, believed to be the smallest operational military UAV. The 18-gram single-rotor helicopter is fitted with a Flir Systems infrared camera and a day video sensor, and can transmit video streams or high-resolution still images via a digital datalink with a 1-mi. range. More than 3,000 PD-100s have been delivered, the company says. The system has been used in Afghanistan by British Army units since 2013.
The U.S. Navy has declared its new Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye carrier-based airborne command and control aircraft operational. The first five aircraft—one full squadron—has been fielded and initial operational capability was declared Oct. 10. The first squadron will deploy next year on the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The Navy plans to buy 75 E-2Ds to replace 52 E-2Cs now in service, in a $19.9 billion, 10-squadron program, says Capt. John Lemmon E-2/C-2 program manager for the Navy.
GE Capital Aviation Services is set to take over helicopter-leasing specialist Milestone Aviation Group in an agreement valued at $1.775 billion. The deal, revealed on Oct. 13, is likely to shakeup the still-fledgling helicopter leasing business, which was rebooted by the formation of Milestone in 2010.
The owner of London Heathrow Airport is selling Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports to a consortium of Ferrovial and Macquarie in a deal worth £1.048 billion ($1.68 billion). The long-awaited sale by Heathrow Airport Holdings announced on Oct. 16 is expected to close in 2015. Ferrovial currently owns the controlling share of 25% of Heathrow Holdings through a subsidiary called FGP Topco Ltd.
President Barack Obama has nominated Dava Newman, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to be deputy administrator at NASA. Best known for innovative spacesuit designs, Newman joined MIT’s faculty in 1993. Pending approval by the Senate, she will follow Lori Garver, who resigned in September 2013 to become general manager of the Air Line Pilots Association.
