With markets in Europe imploding and the U.S. economy looking shaky, Singapore Airlines (SIA) is expanding its business by focusing on Asian markets and in particular growing its short-haul narrowbody operation, SilkAir.
OEM supply chain oversight has been increasing during the past 6-7 years, a period that coincides with the well-publicized problems Boeing had with its supply chain for the 787 program. But in the broader context, OEMs have responded to a steady—and often remarkable—increase in aircraft orders since 2005 that slowed for most airframers only briefly in the 2008-09 global recession.
Mark J. Suchinski has been named vice president of finance/treasurer of Spirit AeroSystems Inc. of Wichita. He was vice president-financial planning and analysis and corporate contracts.
An Emirates Airbus A380 lands at Sydney Airport after a flight from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The carrier is one of the leading players in the highly competitive Australia-Europe market, which includes the so-called kangaroo routes to London. Traditional powers Qantas Airways and British Airways are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with Asian and Middle Eastern carriers that have geographical advantages due to their hub locations. Sydney Airport photo.
Jeremy Prost has been named Beijing-based Asian sales manager for Piper Aircraft. He was head of the Beijing office for Diamond Aircraft and had been a sales executive with Diamond's manufacturing partner in China, BinAo Aircraft.
While avgas consumers and suppliers fret over the future of their leaded fuel, Cessna is partially weaning itself of that toxic brew by equipping its popular Model 182 Skylane with a Jet A-burning diesel engine. Others are likely to follow.
Boeing is one month into what is expected to be about an eight-month weapons flight-test program for the Indian navy's P-8I maritime patrol aircraft. Inert Harpoon missiles (shown), depth bombs and torpedoes are carried and the program includes clean release tests over the U.S. Navy test range west of Neah Bay, Wash., as well as over the joint U.S./Canadian test range in the Strait of Georgia. Boeing is building eight P-8Is; the No. 1 aircraft is the only one in flight testing. The No.
Turkish Airlines has added a tracking solution from Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen to further round out its growing crew management system. The airline, the third largest international carrier in Europe, already uses Jeppesen's crew pairing and rostering systems, and plans to add the company's upcoming Manpower Planning Solution to complete its integrated crew management system.
When it comes to managing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) programs, the Air Force is looking for pointers from all corners of the Pentagon. It ordered a recent National Research Council (NRC) report that finds lessons for Air Force ISR from across the other services. Both the Army and Navy follow procedures that foster strong ISR program management, according to the report. The Army wins high marks for the way it connects requirements analysis, force development and portfolio management, the report states, and the Navy deploys equipment successfully.
Three years after then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates scrapped Lockheed Martin's VH-71 program to replace presidential helicopters—erroneously slamming it for requiring the capability “to cook dinner while in flight under nuclear attack”—the Pentagon has finally re-initiated the procurement. Addressing concerns about the previous program's penchant for costly, leap-ahead technology, the Navy's new plan draws on mature technology to satisfy user requirements. But the current fleet of nearly 40-year-old helicopters will still be in service for quite some time.
One of the most consistent and persistent voices in Washington is that of a man who wants to shrink the place by making government smaller. Robert Poole (see photo) helped found the libertarian Reason Foundation in 1978 to promote free choice and free markets.
The big order rates for CFM International's Leap and Pratt & Whitney's PW1100G geared turbofan engines that will power this decade's new single-aisle and regional jets are pushing up production rates at key suppliers, particularly for those with flexible strategies for working in the supply chain, such as fuel-systems-maker Woodward Inc.
Del Denny has been appointed director of operations for Trenton, N.J.-based Wyvern. He was its auditor and had been a member of Bombardier's New Product Advisory Council for the Lear 60, Lear 45 and Challenger 300, and FlightSafety International's Advisory Board. Erin Salley and George Signoriello, both formerly with Merrill Lynch, have been named customer service executives.
Greg Russell has been appointed Asia-Pacific executive aviation adviser for Airbus Americas subsidiary Metron Aviation, Dulles, Va. for the Asia-Pacific region. He was CEO of Airservices Australia and had been director of aviation at Sydney Airport and chief operating officer at Athens International Airport.
Arati Prabhakar has been appointed director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as part of the U.S. Defense Department Senior Executive Service. She was a partner in U.S. Venture Partners, Menlo Park, Calif., and is among four new appointees to the service. Ross W. Branstetter, 3rd, will be general counsel for the Missile Defense Agency, Fort Belvoir, Va., and had been an attorney adviser for contracts for the U.S. Air Force.
The U.S. Air Force has restarted the competition to replace its TPS-75 transportable air-defense radars by awarding pre-development contracts to Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. Lockheed and Saab Sensis demonstrated prototypes of the Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar (3DELRR) in late 2010, under technology-development contracts awarded in May 2009, but budget cuts forced USAF to restructure the program.
Bombardier's CSeries jet, which is scheduled to enter service late next year, sports a clean-sheet design, next-generation Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan (GTF) engines and advanced materials. Unfortunately for the Montreal-based aircraft builder, the new 110-149 seat aircraft's technical merits have been overshadowed by the buzz about the program's struggle to gain market acceptance. While customers have ordered 1,425 reengined Airbus A320NEOs and another 649 Boeing 737 MAXs, the CSeries has won just 138 firm orders since its formal launch more than four years ago.
“There you go again,” as President Ronald Reagan used to say. Aviation Week & Space Technology continues its biased, anti-Republican political reporting. While the analysis may be good in “Guns or Budget” (AW&ST Aug. 20, p. 18), the extended headline implies that Republican VP candidate Paul Ryan is planning to gut the defense budget. The fact is that President Barack Obama has already slashed $464 billion.
Expect defense to be a sideshow, rather than center stage, at this week's Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. Pro-military Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) are all on the speaking lineup, but New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.)—neither of whom are known as strong on national security issues—will headline.
