How does a small flag carrier based in a remote European capital chart a path toward profitability? For Finnair, the answer is to aim for markets that turn its liabilities into assets, carefully cultivate a “boutique” image among core customers and leave the things it does not do well to partners. For example, it set an expansion course in regional service this year with the acquisition of Finnish Commuter Airlines, but that is being rebranded Flybe Nordic with the U.K.-based regional experts firmly in the control.
Ultimate Air Shuttle's service, connecting Cincinnati with its leading business markets via Dornier 328JET aircraft, resembles a flight on a corporate jet. The upscale one-class service offers free parking, complimentary food, beer and wine, and fares at near-market standard.
Growing numbers of airline industry stakeholders are recognizing that key updates are needed in pilot training to keep basic flying skills from eroding further. And with loss-of-control accidents becoming an ever greater concern, those changes are not happening quickly enough.
With federal deficit-reduction efforts in full swing, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan drawing to a close, and a history as the U.S. military's back bench, the National Guard could easily return to postwar oblivion. But in this post-9/11, austerity era, the hybrid military group's supporters have a different, much stronger future in mind, and now they seem on the cusp of achieving it.
That the frequency of Indian combat aircraft crashes is galling would be a bit like calling the Taj Mahal a nice hut. The Indian air force (IAF) is now rebuilding its training regime to finally cure the long-running problems that have attrited men and machines.
Predictions from Capitol Hill of an eventual massive electronic attack on the U.S., its allies and even its foes are dire. They now include claims that Iran's military and Revolutionary Guard forces are practicing for detonation of a nuclear weapon just at the edge of the atmosphere.
Airline cabins are effective indicators of the health of the commercial air transport industry. The fact that carriers such as Qantas, Delta Air Lines and Iberia are sending their fleets for retrofits could be a sign that a recovery is under way, as many modifications are meant to match older aircraft to new models such as the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787.
The fear of a rising China coupled with the potential for lost jobs in Fort Worth and across the country has Texas lawmakers proposing a law that would turn on its head the way the U.S. sells weapons globally. Texas Republicans Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Kay Granger are trying to force the Obama administration to sell 66 Lockheed Martin F-16C and D aircraft to Taiwan, a move that defense experts call unprecedented.
Januca Berry (see photos), manager of mission assurance for Northrop Grumman's Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Systems in the company's Electronic Systems sector, has received an Emerging Leader Award in the field of quality from the Society of Women Engineers of New York. Nora Lin, systems engineering manager in charge of the company's infrared countermeasures program, received the Fellow Grade Award for service to the advancement of women in the engineering profession.
The Netherlands defense ministry no longer expects to receive its first Boeing CH-47F helicopters this year, with timing of the initial delivery “uncertain.” The schedule update for the €364.6 million ($499.5 million) acquisition was provided to legislators by defense minister Hans Hillen. Flight trials in August revealed the CH-47Fs needed further software adjustments. The Netherlands expects to receive all six helicopters within a six-month period. It also is considering an additional purchase of the heavy-lift rotorcraft.
Nov. 1—Women in Aerospace 26th Annual Awards Ceremony and Banquet. Ritz Carlton Pentagon City, Arlington, Va. See www.womeninaerospace.org Nov. 1-3—National Defense Industrial Association's Aircraft Survivability Symposium 2011. Admiral Kidd Club, San Diego. Call +1 (703) 247-2558 or see www.ndia.org Nov. 2-4—Aircraft Engine World China Summit 2011: “Propulsion for a Green World.” Intercontinental Hotel Pudong, Shanghai. Call +86 (21) 5058-9600 or see www.opplandcorp.com/engine/index.html
Germany's new defense minister, Thomas de Maiziere, has been quietly going about his business, trying to implement the reform program for the country's military. Industry has been waiting to learn how the proposed changes in end-strength will filter into procurement plans. Last year, a list of program cuts was already circulating and now, according to German reports, a new one is making the rounds.
Joseph A. DiLallo (see photo) has been named VP-corporate aviation finance at Key Equipment Finance, Superior, Colo. He was senior VP and manager for JPMorgan's aviation finance division.
Akbar Al Baker has been elected to the executive committee of the Arab Air Carriers Organization of Beirut, for a three-year term. He has been CEO of Qatar Airways since its launch in 1997.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has won a $15 million contract to supply the Italian air force with two additional MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aircraft and three Lynx Block 30 synthetic-aperture radars, part of Italy's plan to build its fleet to six each of Lynx-equipped Predators and Reapers. The Pentagon, meanwhile, has notified Congress of plans to upgrade the French navy's four Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeyes for $180 million and provide Argentina with a commercial off-the-shelf avionics upgrade for five Lockheed Martin C-130Hs, for $166 million. The U.S.
Plasma aerodynamics is a new branch of science in which electrical discharges are used to modify flow fields, gas properties and chemical reactions. Simulation and laboratory experience has been gained over the last two decades in using electrical discharges to control airflow and combustion. Research is being driven by interest in using plasma aerodynamics to improve the lift-to-drag ratio of air vehicles, provide fast trajectory control, thermal load mitigation, inlet performance control and improve the efficiency of supersonic combustion.
Despite the government-wide effort to trim spending, the head of the Missile Defense Agency suggests a global buildup of missiles may insulate some of the MDA's signature programs—the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system and the Phased Adaptive Approach for Europe—from major budget reductions. Even excluding the U.S., China, Russia or NATO, as many as 6,250 missiles with ranges of 300 km (186 mi.) or more have been produced, Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly said during a speech at the Atlantic Council.
When the Obama administration killed the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess) last year, it ended the prospect of a single next-generation platform to monitor Earth's weather, atmosphere, oceans and near-space environment for military and civil users. The erstwhile partners, the U.S. Air Force and NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), have moved on to replacement programs—the Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS) from Northrop Grumman and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) from Ball Aerospace.
The U.S. intelligence community is headed for billions of dollars in budget reductions over the next decade, with significant cuts expected to contractor ranks, the director of national intelligence (DNI) warned an industry conference last week. DNI James Clapper told the Geoint 2011 conference in San Antonio that he wants half of the projected cost savings to come via information technology improvements, especially through new cloud-computing services. Other savings will come from cutting back on contractors and overseas facilities.
In a recent Feedback, reader Virgil Soule proposes that a tilt-wing be designed and implemented with tiltrotors (AW&ST Oct. 3, p. 8). Tilt-wings, though they may generally have a higher cruise speed, tend to generate higher downwash velocities in hover and are noisy critters—as witnessed by the XC-142, CL-84 and the never-to-be-realized Ishida design. None were ever produced, for the reasons stated. Soule touts a 300-kt. cruise speed for a tilt-wing. The latest block of MV-22s is now achieving 280 kt. and 300 kt. is a reachable goal.
Alexandre de Juniac has been appointed chairman and CEO of Air France. He succeeds Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, who has resigned. De Juniac was chief of staff for International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde during her tenure as French finance minister. Jean-Cyril Spinetta, chairman of the Air France-KLM board, has become chairman and CEO of the group, and Leo Van Wijk is the new deputy CEO.
Virgin Galactic's Spaceport America operations base will be equally busy carrying to sub-orbit research payloads and space tourists, say developers at the newly dedicated facility here.
Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington and Cape Town, South Africa)
NASA will store some rocket engines, slow work on others and study still more as it struggles to squeeze the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) Congress has ordered into a flat $3 billion annual budget for development. Early flights of the SLS will use surplus space shuttle main engines (SSMEs) and, as side-mounted strap-ons, the five-segment solid-fuel motors developed for the terminated Ares I crew launch vehicle's first stage.
USAF Lt. Col. (ret.) Price T. Bingham (Melbourne, Fla. )
I will not be surprised if the Air Force decides to cut the Joint Stars program as discussed in “Intelligence Quotients” (AW&ST Sept. 26, p. 30). Ever since Desert Storm, the service's leadership has demonstrated an appalling lack of understanding regarding the critical importance of seeing and targeting ground movement over a wide area. Evidence of this continues with the assertion that Global Hawk provides equal coverage!
