The champions of Asia's low-cost carrier (LCC) business model are now preparing to move into the premium segment, but their strategies will be very different. Indonesia's largest LCC, Lion Air, has applied for an air operator's certificate for a new premium carrier, which will fly Boeing 737s in a two-class configuration—economy and business—and will be branded Space Air.
The success of industry heavy-weights such as AirAsia, Jetstar and Lion Air will eventually crowd some of the smaller players out of East Asia's low-cost carrier (LCC) market.
Two countries on air safety blacklists are adopting performance-based navigation (PBN) to improve safety at terrain-constrained airports, ease airport congestion and provide fuel savings for airlines. Boeing Flight Services (BFS) is working with Indonesian carrier Lion Air, Indonesian airport operator and air navigation services provider Angkasa Pura I and Indonesia's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to introduce PBN at select airports, says BFS's director for navigation service, Charles Steigerwald.
While many airlines are hunkering down in the face of global economic woes, Hawaiian Airlines is taking the opposite approach. The carrier is accelerating its fleet growth as it looks beyond its traditional markets to tap into new long-haul opportunities.
Air New Zealand is planning a major shake-up of its international operations next year, and it will implement changes as quickly as possible to stem the flow of red ink from its long-haul business. The airline is scrutinizing its international services in a review it expects to complete in the first quarter of 2012. “All options are on the table,” including changes to routes, alliances and cabin configurations, Air New Zealand's general manager for international operations, Christopher Luxon, tells Aviation Week.
Why has loss of control in flight become the leading cause of fatalities in commercial aviation, and what can be done to prevent it? Senior Technology Editor Graham Warwick asks Randall Brooks (right), senior director of flight training for Opinicus; and Paul Ransbury, president of Aviation Performance Solutions. Both are members of the International Committee for Aviation Training in Extended Envelopes and the Upset Prevention & Recovery Training Association, which have a goal of reducing loss-of-control accidents through enhanced training.
Training and simulation technologies have evolved dramatically since the Pentagon purchased its last fast-jet trainer in the 1960s. This opens a world of possibilities for the U.S. Air Force with its forthcoming T-X to fundamentally overhaul how it prepares pilots for the F-22 and F-35. But the budget drama unfolding in Washington could mean the Air Force will find itself short of the money to take full advantage of these advances for a T-38C replacement in the near term.
A space-based infrared (IR) survey system is being proposed to NASA by Ball Aerospace as a low-risk, quick-start option to significantly speed up the rate at which potentially lethal asteroids can be discovered.
Even if the Libyan air force and air defenses failed to mount a robust challenge to the NATO-led air campaign over the country, coalition participants are finding lessons to draw from the experience.
Feb. 1-2—MRO Middle East 2012. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Feb. 14-16 —Aerospace & Defense Technology and Affordability Requirements. Washington. March 7—54th Annual Laureate Awards. Washington. March 13-14—Innovation Supply Chain Showcase. Orlando, Fla. April 3-5—MRO Americas 2012. Dallas. April 3-5—MRO Military Conference & Exhibition. Dallas. April 23-25—NextGen Ahead: Air Transportation Modernization. Washington. May 8-9—Civil Aviation Manufacturing. Charlotte, N.C.
The new global currency of the 21st century is innovation. In order for this currency to properly appreciate, developed countries will have to cast away some common misconceptions about what it means to do good research and technology (R&T).
Even with the F-22 on the ramp, if the F-35 program is delayed or killed, the U.S. and its allies will need more aircraft with a reduced radar signature or the ability to carry standoff weapons at a range to penetrate sophisticated air defenses. The other requirements for these improved legacy aircraft are the ability to carry conventional and directed-energy weapons, advanced electronic warfare (EW) capabilities and a price tag that is a fraction of a specialized stealth design.
Engineers on NASA's multi-purpose crew vehicle (MPCV) want to fly an ascent-abort test before sending their capsule around the Moon on the first flight of the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) in 2017, according to Michael Coats, director of Johnson Space Center in Houston, where the Orion-based deep-space crew vehicle is managed.
Robert Wall wrote from the Dubai Air Show that Airbus expects to easily top its 2007 order record. COO-Customers John Leahy projects 1,650-1,700 gross orders this year. Aircraft Man adds:
Antoine Marez has been named director of strategic purchasing of Revima APU, Caudebec-en-Caux, France. He headed Pratt & Whitney Canada's Aftermarket Management Div. and was general manager of Chromalloy France. Honors and Elections
Air Berlin's ambitions were huge. The former German charter carrier wanted to take on the big guys. Now it appears the airline is up for sale. Several industry executives tell Aviation Week that Air Berlin has approached other airlines about becoming a strategic investor in it, Germany's second-largest airline. Etihad Airways, Hainan Airlines and Emirates are understood to be among the carriers that have been contacted. The response has apparently been lukewarm so far, and it is uncertain if a deal will be struck. Air Berlin declines to comment.
NASA is signaling more restrictive use of Space Act Agreements (SAA), development-oriented contracting vehicles the agency has employed since 2006 to hasten development of commercial cargo and crew transportation services to support post-shuttle activities aboard the International Space Station.
XCOR Aerospace and Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) will give an adventurous—and lucky—scientist a suborbital research spaceflight on XCOR's Lynx Mark I spaceplane, once the Lynx is up and running. Worth $95,000, the prize will be awarded with a random drawing of registered participants in the 2012 Next Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference in Palo Alto, Calif., next February.
The Chinese call it “daxing tumu”—being keen on large-scale construction. It seems that wherever one looks in this country someone is building a mighty new bridge, office tower, airport, freeway or aircraft hangar, more physical capital for the roaring economy.
In the Nov. 7, issue, the article “Teaming Done Here” (p. 78) incorrectly identified the manufacturers of the Airbus A380 nacelle and the acoustic inlet for the Rolls-Royce XWB engine for the Airbus A350. Aircelle supplies the nacelle, and Airbus provides the inlet.
Fred Strader, the president and CEO of defense contractor Textron Systems, held out hope to the end that a congressional Super Committee would strike a bipartisan deal on how to cut $1.2 trillion from the U.S. budget deficit during the next 10 years. Under a law passed earlier this year, failure to agree to a plan by last week would trigger automatic cuts equal to that amount, with $600 billion coming from defense funding. “It's illogical that they would allow it to get to that point,” Strader says.
It may be premature to say the future of U.S. strike aviation will be the first casualty of the U.S. budget crisis, but there can be little doubt that it is in jeopardy—compliments of the congressional Super Committee's abject failure to agree on a plan for reducing the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion. Whether there are adequate alternatives to the F-35 is debatable if the program is delayed, reduced or killed.
Eliot (Lee) G. Sander has been appointed president/CEO of New York-based HAKS Group. He was CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York.
Michael W. McCormick, executive director and chief operating officer of the Global Business Travel Association, Alexandria, Va., has been named to the Aviation Security Advisory Committee of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.
