Airbus is seeking FAA approval to install four “mini-suites” on JetBlue Airways' new A321 aircraft as part of a 16-seat business class—a dramatic departure for an airline that has been an economy class-only, low-cost carrier. JetBlue Chief Commercial Officer Robin Hayes said in March that New York-based JetBlue would start offering a “premium” product next year, solely for its transcontinental flights, using a dedicated fleet of A321s that it will start receiving later this year. But he would not confirm whether the plan calls for a separate cabin.
With US Airways and American Airlines flying toward a merger, some experts expect federal regulators to require slot divestitures at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. But American CEO Tom Horton stresses there is no need to do so—based on passenger destination data, not slot numbers. Now American appears to be gaining strong congressional support for this argument, as more than 104 House Democrats and Republicans have written regulators opposing slot divestitures.
“Signifying Leadership” (AW&ST May 20, p. 23), a commentary that hopes that the Obama administration will sign the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, and that it be ratified by a likely hesitant Senate does not belong in Aviation Week & Space Technology.
Drew McEwen (see photo) has been appointed vice president-sales and marketing of Piper Aircraft Inc., Vero Beach, Fla. He was head of global sales and business development. Honors And Elections
Recent articles in Aviation Week regarding the Boeing 787 Lithium-ion battery safety concern seem to indicate that the safety fix is a new fire containment system. However, it seems to me that the fix is more accurately characterized as a passive, vented, confinement system.
Live-fire testing on pressurized single-aisle and widebody aircraft cabins is set to start at the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Test Center in northern Maryland. The work is part of a long-running Army and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program to study locations or designs that will yield the least damage if a bomb found onboard an aircraft detonates.
While Bangkok is one of the world's largest international air hubs, it ranks third behind Singapore and Kuala Lumpur among those serving Southeast Asia. But that may soon change as new regional airlines launch services there. The premier carrier based in Bangkok, Thai Airways International, has focused for many years on long-haul markets to Europe and the U.S., which is reflected in its fleet, largely comprising Airbus A380s, Boeing 747-400s and 777s, along with five Boeing 737-400s.
Boeing has elected to build key elements of the engine nacelle for the 737 MAX at its recently developed 787 assembly line in North Charleston, S.C., as part of a continuing effort to expand its commercial aircraft footprint beyond its home state of Washington. The establishment of Propulsion South Carolina is part of a broader expansion of design engineering and information technology work for North Charleston, in support of the company's pledge to invest $1 billion and create 2,000 jobs there.
For Western aviation equipment manufacturers, setting up joint companies with Avic usually offers lower costs and a boost to sales, thanks to access to the controlled Chinese market. For the Chinese side, partnership has a more fundamental value: It provides access to a business that would otherwise not be accessible at all. But in the latest Sino-Western partnership, aimed at developing and building commercial flight simulators, both sides need each other to make any headway.
Scott Beutel has been named Virginia Beach, Va.-based sales manager for business aviation for the U.S. for Cobham Satcom, Lyngby, Denmark. He was corporate aviation sales manager for Carlisle Interconnect Technologies.
Daniel F. Lyons (see photo) has become senior director of performance engineering and operations analytics for Hawaiian Airlines. He was an aeronautical engineer for the U.S. Navy and a program manager for Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems' Advanced Technology Group.
Gordon Morrison has been named aircraft sales manager of Greenwich AeroGroup subsidiary Atlantic Aero, Greensboro, N.C. He was Beechcraft sales associate at Carolina Aircraft Inc. Mark Woods has become Western U.S. director of aircraft sales for Western Aircraft, Boise, Idaho, another Greenwich AeroGroup company. He is coming from Delta Aviation.
An effort by the Republican-run House Armed Services Committee to guard against Defense Department use of information technology manufactured by companies with official or suspected ties to Beijing is drawing the ire of U.S. technology lobbyists.
John Hunt has become regional sales manager and director of business development for Cutter Aviation's Phoenix-based aircraft service and avionics business unit.
With final ground tests nearing completion in Toulouse, the first Airbus A350 test aircraft appears to be just days away from its first flight, which would initiate a flight-test program that is expected to last about a year. MSN001 was scheduled to perform high-speed taxi tests and high-power engine runs at the end of last week, after the aircraft's Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines had been powered up for the first time June 2.
Turkey is awaiting the imminent maiden flight of the Hurkus, a turboprop training aircraft named for one of the country's greatest aviation pioneers. Vecihi Hurkus is the most celebrated Turkish aviator, who achieved many of the country's aeronautical firsts. As well as being the first Turk to shoot down an enemy aircraft, he was also the first to design and build an indigenous aircraft in the 1920s. But his numerous designs failed to move beyond the prototype stage.
Nigel Warren (see photo) has been appointed Farnborough, England-based sales manager for Northern Europe for FlightSafety International. He was an air ambulance pilot for Jet Logistics of Raleigh, N.C., and has been a Dassault Falcon 200 pilot for a corporate flight department in Albuquerque, N.M.
EADS CASA says that it plans to modify a prototype C295 for trials in late September as a firefighting aircraft. The aircraft will use a tank system fitted in the main cargo hold that would drop water through openings cut into the belly of the aircraft. The news comes just a week after the company announced it was offering a new version of the C295 fitted with winglets and uprated engines that will be made available to customers in 2014 and become the baseline production aircraft in the fourth quarter of 2014. The new aircraft will be designated C295W.
An unidentified firm order announced in June 2011 for 10 Bombardier CS100s, plus options for six more, was placed by Bahrain-based Gulf Air, Bombardier has revealed. Russian lessor Ilyushin Finance, meanwhile, has received shareholder approval to confirm its order for 32 CS300s, plus options for 10 more. This takes firm orders for the CSeries to 177. The first aircraft, FTV1, has begun fuel-testing ahead of an initial flight planned for this month.
The A400M's fly-by-wire system is based on the three-axis digital flight controls developed by Airbus for the A380, but modified to increase maneuverability and agility. The maximum bank angle is 120 deg. and load factor 3g. Software provides flightpath stability, plus high- and low-speed flight-envelope and overstress protection.
