Karim Hijazi (see photo) has joined Monaco-based Boutsen Aviation as sales representative for Dubai. He was managing director for sales, audits and training at Air Synapsis Aircraft.
Jay Beckman of Chandler, Ariz., photographed “Night Flight,” Gene Soucy's pyrotechnics routine at EAA AirVenture 2012 last summer at Oshkosh, Wis. Beckman's image was among the 729 entered in Aviation Week & Space Technology's annual photo contest from 78 photographers in 13 countries. This year's competition was the 21st.
Robert H. Lewis has been named VP and general manager of Montreal-based CAE's Business Aviation, Helicopter and Maintenance Training business unit. He was CEO and president of Pentastar Aviation.
Mark Shaw (see photo) has become VP-general counsel at Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, succeeding Madeleine Johnson, who plans to retire Feb. 1. Shaw was associate general counsel for corporate transactions.
First the good news: The latest slump in the financial health of the airline industry appears to have bottomed out. Any celebration will be muted, however, since the recovery could be so gradual that it may not be noticeable in many major markets.
In its last web order update for the year, Boeing added 50 to its total for 2012, raising its net for the year to 1,115. The biggest boost came from 777s, one for Iraq and 30 that are unidentified. FedEx may be suffering from weakened demand—it said last week that quarterly profits dropped 12%—but it has ordered four 767-300Fs, bringing its total order count for the type to 50. The new deliveries are to start in 2014.
Ahmad Abdulkarim Julfar (see photo) has become chairman of Dubai-based Thuraya Telecommunications Co. He is CEO of Etisalat Group. Also elected to the board was Daniel Ritz, group chief strategy and mergers and acquisitions officer of Etisalat. Shereen Hanafi (see photo) has been appointed director of communications. She has held corporate communications roles at SES, Xantic, Fenestrae and KPN. Joseph R. Francis has been named director for North America.
Gulfstream has begun deliveries of outfitted G650 ultra-long-range, ultra-large-cabin business jets, with the first two aircraft going to U.S. customers Wynn Resorts and Exxon Mobil. The all-new G650 was certified in early September, and Gulfstream has a backlog of five years' production.
After more than a year-long delay, the U.S. Air Force has begun training its instructor pilots for the F-35 at Eglin AFB, Fla., joining its Marine Corps colleagues who have already started producing pilots. Gen. Edward Rice, who heads the Air Education and Training Center, gave the long-awaited nod to begin pilot training during a visit last week to the base, where the first F-35 schoolhouse has been established.
In November 2008, the year Wanda Austin became CEO of The Aerospace Corp., Aviation Week & Space Technology featured her on the cover with a three-page profile inside. “The fact that Austin is a woman and an African-American is impossible to miss,” the magazine wrote.
Regarding “Pyrology for Cargo” (AW&ST Dec. 17, p. MRO22), I believe a common element as to the possible causes of each of the fire-related accidents cited was certain lithium-ion batteries. That the cargo airlines involved and the FAA have not banned carriage of these batteries is another case of moral turpitude, trading assets and human lives for some miniscule gain in profit margin.
French arms maker Thales has chosen former Vivendi Chief Executive Jean-Bernard Levy to pursue continued recovery of the group and its future development. Levy, 57, replaces outgoing CEO Luc Vigneron, who, after three years as head of Thales, had lost the support of the company's majority shareholders, the French state and Dassault Aviation. The change came two days after Dassault announced Eric Trappier would succeed Charles Edelstenne as chairman and chief executive of the French aircraft maker, effective Jan. 9.
Korean Air Lines said last month it aimed to be Asia's strongest aerospace company by 2020. Even by South Korean standards, the assertion seemed a little ambitious, since the company's aircraft and space division is not a fifth of the size of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' aerospace company, and hardly compares with the sprawling Avic group in China.
Jeff Smisek has been appointed chairman of Chicago-based United Continental Holdings Inc., effective Dec. 31. He will remain president/CEO. Smisek succeeds Glenn Tilton, who also was chairman/CEO of UAL Corp. before it merged with Continental. Tilton will remain on the board of directors. Other appointments are: Jim Compton, vice chairman/chief revenue officer; and Jeff Foland, executive vice president-marketing, technology and strategy.
Aviation Week & Space Technology marks a major transition every eight to 10 years, when the editor-in-chief passes the torch to his successor. The next such milestone will occur on Dec. 31. After months of preparation, I will bring to a close my 24-year career at Aviation Week, though I plan to stay deeply engaged in aerospace.
As part of Boeing and Embraer's recent pact to cooperate on commercial aircraft features designed to enhance safety and efficiency, the two airframers are planning an initiative to reduce runway excursions. These have resulted in more than 780 fatalities in 15 accidents from 2002-11.
USAF Lt. Gen. Stanley E. Clarke, 3rd, has been named director of the Air National Guard in the National Guard Bureau at the Pentagon. He has been commander of the First Air Force (Air Force North) and the Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region, Tyndall AFB, Fla. Maj. Gen. Garrett Harencak has been appointed assistant chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration at USAF Headquarters. He has been commander of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center of Air Force Materiel Command, Kirtland AFB, N.M. Harencak will be succeeded by Brig.
A three-man multinational crew that includes veteran astronaut Chris Hadfield, who is scheduled to become the first Canadian to command the International Space Station in mid-March, was on track late last week to dock with the orbiting laboratory Dec. 21. The Soyuz TMA-07M capsule carried cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn and Hadfield. The newcomers are expected to restore the ISS's crew to its full complement of six members for the first time since Nov. 19.
India officially took delivery of the first of eight P-8I maritime patrol aircraft last week, although it has not yet left Boeing's Seattle factory. The navy is to receive two more in 2013 and the fourth and fifth aircraft are now in assembly.
With belts tightening across Europe, the EU is pushing the case for increased defense cooperation among its 27 member states, particularly when it comes to enhancing military capabilities in support of joint security and defense operations. EU leaders in December said the continent's economic crisis ultimately could force Euro-skeptics to share planning and development of key defense requirements in an effort to save money and facilitate interoperability on the battlefield.
