The Arab Air Carrier Organization has summoned its members to Algiers this week to attend the annual general meeting. This marks a distinct change from the group's usual choice of venue. In times past Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates or Qatar hosted the upscale parties and showcased their strength. Algeria, in contrast, is a part of the Arab world that has not experienced much liberalization in air travel, nor has it demonstrated the same growth as the Persian Gulf countries.
Bob Schick has been appointed director-safety and risk management of Dallas-based Truman Arnold Companies (TAC Air). Tristiene Pickett has become director of administrative services and Joel Miller director of properties. Pickett was customer service supervisor at TAC Air's FBO in Knoxville, Tenn., and Miller has handled real estate development.
Airlines in the next decade will face what might be an unprecedented direct or indirect requirement for equipping their aircraft with communications, navigation, surveillance and safety kits in order to gain access to the NextGen system's most efficient routing and operations.
Competition is fierce among regional jet manufacturers to secure customers that serve London City Airport, into which only a few aircraft types are able to fly. But of the three legacy airline groups operating there—British Airways, Lufthansa (through its Swiss subsidiary) and Air France (under the CityJet brand)—only CityJet has not taken steps to replace its aging RJ fleet.
The European Space Agency plans an early 2013 introduction for its third deep-space tracking station near Malarque, Argentina. Equipped with a 35-meter dish antenna and super-cold low-noise amplifiers, the desert site will be used to complete a global network that includes the agency's Deep Space Antenna-1 in New Norcia, Western Australia, and Deep Space Antenna-2 in Cebreros, Spain. The tracking network features use of a “delta Differential One-Way Ranging” (delta-DOR) technique to establish spacecraft locations with accuracies of a few meters.
Raytheon could be able to deliver its first Tamir missile built in the U.S. within 15 months if American and Israeli officials work out a deal to coproduce the Iron Dome interceptor stateside, according to industry officials. One official estimates U.S. production of about 3,000 missiles, half of Israel's anticipated buy, could provide for about 650 manufacturing jobs in the U.S. A slow production rate at Rafael and the proximity of its plant to Lebanon, coupled with high unemployment in the U.S., is prompting some American officials to push for rights to produce Tamir.
Deanna White (see photo) has been promoted to president from VP-finance and administration of Dallas-based Flexjet. She succeeds Fred Reid, who is retiring.
Your recent articles on possible joint U.S.-Israeli air attacks to slow or delay Iran's march toward a nuclear capability fail to mention several terrible possible consequences of such attacks.
Andy Fernandes (see photos) has been appointed regional manager for India at Lincoln, Neb.-based Duncan Aviation. He will continue as avionics installations sales representative. Richard Gardner has become manager for Australia and New Zealand, where he has been an international representative.
The Indian air force is close to choosing a winner in a protracted bid to buy new short-range infrared homing missiles for more than 100 of its Jaguar strike jets. The competition is now between the Rafael Python-5 and MBDA Advanced, Short-Range Air-To-Air Missile (Asraam), following the elimination of Diehl's IRIS-T last year ahead of field evaluation trials. The missile will be mounted on the Jaguar's over-wing pylons, from which it now deploys out-of-production Matra R550 Magic short-range heat-seeking missiles.
Mark Keilholz has been promoted to senior director-information technology of Kirkland, Wash-based Greenpoint Technologies, from leader of the integration of financial management and reporting systems of three Greenpoint facilities.
“Not So Easy” (AW&ST Oct. 22, p. 52) seems to echo the overly optimistic attitude that prevails in the general news media about the Iranian nuclear weapons program. The Iranians abandoned their indigenous nuclear weapons design program in 2003 once they assured themselves that the AQ Khan network bomb design was going to work. The bomb has been engineered and tested in Pakistan so all they need is a copy of a device known to work.
U.S. airlines—and particularly East Coast-focused carriers such as JetBlue Airways—will take a bigger financial hit from Hurricane Sandy than from most previous major weather phenomena, but they should be able to manage the costs. The bigger questions for the airlines are: How many more weather-related financial hits will they take this year and this winter? And will such extreme coastal weather become more commonplace because of climate change?
The U.S. Air Force second Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite completed its on-orbit testing in preparation for transfer for operational use. The satellite, built by Lockheed Martin, was launched in May. It underwent in-orbit testing by itself and also executed trials to link with AEHF-1. Though the Air Force is building more AEHF satellites, legacy Milstar systems will remain in orbit until their utility degrades.
Brian J. Morra has been named a senior fellow and member of the board of regents of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, Arlington, Va. He is VP-strategic planning for the Electronics Systems Sector of Northrop Grumman Corp.
Troy Jonas has become VP and general manager of AAR Aircraft Services of Indianapolis. He has held similar roles at StandardAero Associated AirCenter and Bombardier Aerospace Aircraft Services.
When it comes to spending money on U.S. elections, the employees of defense companies tend to play it safe. They target campaign donations toward proven incumbents. And they hedge their bets, spreading the wealth between two candidates if the polls are close, or zeroing in on the one most likely to win the race.
China might well become the third force in commercial aircraft building, as many Western companies expect, but its record of export sales of jet and turboprop airliners remains modest. The industry often takes two steps forward, frequently with a political push, then one step backward. Its foreign customers still tend to be financially weak airlines and in many cases have received the aircraft on generous terms. In at least two cases, overseas operators have given up using the aircraft after just a few years.
A Swedish think tank that monitors global arms sales says India's weapons imports have overtaken China's, which have been pushed to second place, with 6% of global imports, even as Beijing continues to build up its domestic arms industry. India accounted for 9% of all international arms imports in 2006-10, and it is expected to keep the top spot for the foreseeable future, says the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
