A Chilean court's demand that LAN Airlines and Grupo TAM sacrifice one of their alliance memberships to proceed with their merger is a fitting milestone for what appears to be the end of an era for the global airline groups.
George Whitesides is a long-time advocate of commercial human spaceflight. He helped shift NASA's post-shuttle policy to reliance on commercial spaceflight as NASA's chief of staff at the beginning of the Obama administration, and he is now working to make his dreams a reality as CEO of Virgin Galactic.
Skyteam has accepted Taiwan's China Airlines as its 15th member and announced a switch in focus to improved integration of ground services rather than continued rapid expansion. SkyTeam is not talking to Virgin Atlantic Airways about joining, but some members may be seeking to cooperate individually. SkyTeam now has three members in China and Taiwan.
Lufthansa placed orders for 12 additional aircraft to continue its fleet renewal: two Airbus A380s, one A330-300, four A320s and five Embraer E-195s. The two A380s will be delivered in 2014 and complement an existing order for 15 of the type, eight of which have been delivered.
As Lockheed Martin enters the crucial final months to closing out F-35 testing goals by year-end—worth millions of dollars—it is once again predicting improved per-unit-cost performance on production. Though year-over-year improvement has been made in reducing the price, this progress may not be enough. The program continues to take hits for high cost and late deliveries, as customer countries struggle with their growing national debts.
Pierre Sparaco's “Muddled Vision” (AW&ST Sept. 19, p. 21) about Boeing's failure to match Airbus's A320NEO proposal was on target. Boeing must accept the fact that Airbus is—and has been for some time—a “peer competitor” in the truest definition of the term.
Since the final shuttle flight, the U.S. has pondered the course to space. From proposed civil ventures to new civil entities, all miss a key factor. The point of diminishing returns in transport-to-space propulsion—with single- or multi-stage-to-space designs tied to engines that provide insufficient thrust and efficiency gains—has been reached.
In Feedback, reader Harry White writes: “Airbus should be ordered to install control columns and yokes in all its airliner aircraft” (AW&ST Sept. 19, p. 10). As an A330 captain and instructor, I feel qualified to point out some critical errors in this assessment of how Airbus fly-by-wire systems operate.
Mark Wilford (see photo) has been appointed chairman of the Global Aerospace Div. of Willis Group Holdings of London, succeeding Andre Clerc, who is scheduled to retire at year-end. Wilford comes from Rolls-Royce, where he was responsible for the development and operation of insurance, enterprise risk management and security. Philip Smaje was named CEO and Garrett Hanrahan president of the division. Smaje has been with the group since 1988 and is based in London, while Hanrahan joined the company in 2008 and is based in Dallas.
Bob Jordan has been promoted to executive VP and chief commercial officer from EVP-strategy and planning at Southwest Airlines. He will retain his role as president of subsidiary AirTran Airways. Jeff Lamb has been elevated to EVP and chief human resources and administrative officer from senior VP and Ellen Torbert to VP-diversity and inclusion from VP-customer support and services.
Jeff Messmer has been named operations manager at West Star Aviation's new facility at Spirit of St. Louis Airport, Chesterfield, Mo. He was Bombardier customer support manager for Midcoast Aviation.
Robin Wohnsigl, founder of and consultant with RW Aviation Advisers, and Claude Haw, founder of Mindtrust and The Ottawa Network, have joined the board of directors of Mxi Technologies of Ottawa.
Peter de Vries (see photo) is the new sales manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa at KDW Microtag, Dresden, Germany. He has held leading positions in the RFID/ID sector, notably with Sokymant and HID Global.
Rustan Nicander has been appointed chairman of Saab's new U.K. defense business. He was VP and head of Region Europe. Peter Hultin is the new managing director. He was senior director-business development for several Saab units.
Chi Yan, Michael Bai and Jenny Van Le have been added to Los Angeles-based Air Lease Corp.'s executive team as VPs. All three were executives at the International Lease Finance Corp.
Bob Silsby has become VP of Chantilly, Va.-based TASC's Business and Technology Office. He was a senior intelligence officer at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
Ian Cheese (see photo) has been appointed director-flight operations at Gama Aviation, Farnborough (England). He was general manager for turboprops at Flybe. Capt. Steve Woodfine (see photo) has been promoted to chief pilot from fleet manager and Capt. Steve Wright to chief operating officer and accountable manager from operations director. Capt. Brian Cozens (see photo) is the new head of training, a position he held at XL Airways.
Richard Gammon has been named director of London-based HOK's aviation and transportation business in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India. He has worked on major projects at London Heathrow and Gatwick airports. Steven Morris has been appointed director of global marketing at the company's San Francisco office. He has led projects at the Lisbon, Abu Dhabi and Panama City international airports. Honors & Elections
USAF Capt. Amanda Zuber, Space-Based Infrared System field program manager for the 45th Launch Support Sqdn., Patrick AFB, Fla., and Diane E. Pugel, a physicist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., have been named recipients of the Achievement Award given by Washington-based Women in Aerospace. Other winners for 2011 are: Aerospace Awareness Award, Cheryl Moor McNair, chairman of the Dr. Ronald E. McNair Educational Science Literacy Foundation; Aerospace Educator Award, Rene M.
Marshall Larsen may soon find himself running an aerospace empire. Larsen is the chairman, president and CEO of Goodrich, which has agreed to be acquired by United Technologies Corp. (UTC) in an $18.4 billion deal. When the transaction was unveiled on Sept. 22, UTC said Larsen would run a new operation that was widely assumed to include Goodrich and UTC's Hamilton Sundstrand, a leading supplier of aircraft control systems.
The French government will see a real-term drop in defense spending although the top line will increase slightly in 2012 from 2011 levels. Excluding pensions, French defense spending in 2012 is slated to reach €31.7 billion ($43 billion), about €500 million above the current year's level. Equipment spending is slated to grow 3% to €16.5 billion. The spending plan includes the purchase of 11 Rafale fighters, three EC725 and eight NH90 helicopters, five CN235 transport aircraft, and two Falcon 2000LX business jets.
Australia is moving to buy a sixth Boeing C-17, barely six months after deciding to order a fifth. The country's request for information on cost and availability for a further C-17 follows its discovery that its first four aircraft, ordered in 2006, have been more useful than expected. The aircraft are also cheaper for Australia than when the first batch was ordered, because of the favorable exchange rate for the Australian dollar.
Pentagon clean energy investments increased 300% between 2006 and 2009, to $1.2 billion, and are projected to go above $10 billion annually by 2030, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts. Investments will focus on vehicle efficiency, advanced biofuels and energy efficiency, and renewable energy at military bases. The Defense Department has 450 ongoing renewable energy projects.
