National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration controllers have started moving GOES-8, the nation's newest geostationary weather satellite, to its operational location above the sea approaches to the East Coast. NOAA said yesterday the Space Systems/Loral platform will reach 75 degrees West longitude on Feb. 27 or 28, giving forecasters a clear view of the route hurricanes take as they move westward across the Atlantic. The satellite had been positioned over 90 degrees West during its checkout period following launch on April 13, 1994.
British Airways plans to resume nonstop service to Beirut Feb. 27 with twice-weekly 767 flights from London Heathrow. The service will be BA's first since it suspended operations to Lebanon 15 years ago as a result of that country's civil war. Mediterranean Airways and Middle East Airlines also are expected to operate in the market.
Senate Armed Services Committee Republicans yesterday announced their agenda for the current Congress which Chairman Strom Thurmond (S.C.) said reflects their commitment to holding the defense budget at the fiscal year 1995 level and strengthening readiness. Funding the FY '96 budget at the '95 level adjusted for inflation would mean $270 billion in budget authority, or $13 billion more than the planned Clinton Administration level of $257 billion. Thurmond said the priorities fall into five categories:
U.S. trade negotiators have concluded a new commercial launch agreement that allows China continued access to the western market but imposes specific pricing guidelines on the Chinese. The agreement, which succeeds a 1989 pact that expired Dec. 31, allows China 11 geostationary launches through the end of 2001, according to an official at the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) office. China had been allowed nine launches over six years under the old agreement.
The company has announced the following promotions of three sales managers: Marjorie K. (Marj) DeLong, manager of sales representatives, responsible for management of SimuFlite's Internal Sales Group. George Black III, regional sales manager, North Central Region. Karen D. Montalvo, manager of marketing services.
Mesa Air Group's December quarter 1994 net earnings dropped 65% to $2.7 million from $7.8 million the previous year, and its operating profit fell 55.9% to $5.8 million from $13.1 million. At the same time, operating revenues rose 10.1% to $101.8 million from $92.5 million. The airline company's yield fell to 37.2 cents per revenue passenger mile from 38.9 cents, and its unit costs rose to 18 cents per available seat mile from 17.5 cents.
Diane E. McGarry was elected director of GenCorp. McGarry is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Xerox Canada Inc., North York, Ontario. Rosemary Younts has been elected vice president. Younts is also the vice president of commmunications for GenCorp.
Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and senior Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana said Tuesday they will back the START-2 nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia, despite reservations over Russian actions in Chechnya. Secretary of State Warren Christopher told Helms the Administration believes Russia has control over its nuclear arsenal, despite questions about the obedience of its military raised during the Chechnyan war.
The company has named the following marketing team leaders: Karl Childs, named vice president - domestic business jet sales. Mike Langston, general sales manager - Eastern Region. Mike McMillan, general sales manager - Western Region. Keith Nadolski, domestic jetprop and piston sales, named vice president - domestic sales.
Canadian Airlines International's 1994 passenger traffic rose 4.5% from 1993's level on 3.8% more capacity, pushing the load factor up 0.5 percentage points. In December, Canadian's traffic increased 8.3%, but its capacity rose 11.9%, producing a load factor decline of 2.2 points. "Without adding any aircraft in 1994, Canadian carried more traffic and offered more capacity than in 1993," said Don Casey, VP-marketing and scheduling.
Joseph D. Mason was named vice president and general manager of TRW Ballistic Missiles Division. Daniel J. McClain, who most recently served as the Space and Electronics Group's manager of government and media relations, was appointed director of communications. Alden V. Munson Jr. , who most recently served as vice president and general manager of Military Support Programs for TRW Space&Electronics Group in Redondo Beach, Calif., has been named to the newly created position of vice president, operations.
Andrew T. Davis has been named director, advanced programs and Horizontal Technology Integration (HTI) for the Ground Systems Division of United Defense L.P.
Boeing Co. intends to reduce the production rate of 737 transports from 8.5 per month to 7.5 per month or fewer, and to cut back the 757 rate from four per month to three, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The cutbacks, to take effect by early 1996, would eliminate between 5,000 and 7,000 of Boeing's 117,000 jobs, according to the report. Boeing had no comment yesterday, but last week, when it posted 1994 financial results, it raised the possibility of "further selective production rate reductions, primarily impacting deliveries in 1996" (DAILY, Jan. 26).
GE American Communications Inc. plans to provide English and Hindi video programming to India via a geostationary Russian communications satellite set for launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in April. Built by NPO PM, the Express 6 satellite will be positioned at 80 degrees East longitude after its launch aboard a Proton booster, the General Electric Co. subsidiary said Tuesday. GE Americom, as the subsidiary is known, plans to lease five C-band and two Ku-band transponders on the platform through Russia's Intersputnik space communications organization.
Benjamin T. Fought, previously director of signal processing and advanced technology systems at the Bell Laboratories Division of AT&T federal systems advanced technologies, has been appointed executive vice president, business development for the company's Electronic Systems Group.
Society Europeenne des Satellites (SES) has exercised its first launch option with Lockheed-Khrunichev-Energia (LKE) to orbit its Astra 1F satellite aboard a Russian Proton booster, LKE reported yesterday. SES is one of three satellite companies that have purchased general launch agreements from the U.S.-Russian joint venture that manages Proton launches. An LKE spokeswoman said yesterday that potential value of all launch options purchased by SES, Space Systems/Loral and PanAmSat is $900 million.
Loral Corp. yesterday detailed the roles to be played by its teammates in the competition for the U.K.'s Replacement Maritime Patrol Aircraft (RMPA) program. The new plane would succeed the Royal Air Force's Nimrod, which has been in service since 1969. Competing with Loral's ASIC unit for the 24-aircraft buy are British Aerospace, Dassault and Lockheed (DAILY, Jan. 12, page 51). A contract is expected to be awarded next year.
The Senate Armed Services Committee could vote as early as today on the confirmation of a senior Senate staffer to be the Pentagon's new inspector general. Eleanor Hill, chief counsel to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee's investigations subcommittee, was nominated by President Clinton to fill the post. The job has been filled on an acting basis for the past three years by Derek Vanderschaaf, who has agreed to stay on as Hill's deputy.
Chester M. Lee has been awarded the 1994 Lloyd V. Berkner Award for exceptional leadership in promoting the commercial utilization of space by developing and operating the first privately-owned space facillity, the SPACEHAB Space Research Laboratory.
Michael C. Eberhardt has been elected vice president, secretary and general counsel. Prior to joining E-Systems, Eberhardt was a partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Crowell and Moring. He succeeds James W. Crowley, who will retire at the end of February.
Airports support language in the DOT/FAA airport rates and charges policy relating to compensatory ratemaking but are troubled by several other elements of the policy, the Airports Council International-North America said (DAILY, Feb. 1). In addition to acceptance of compensatory ratemaking, airports are pleased that the agencies do not intend to make the dispute resolution process available to challenge particular capital construction projects under the guise of a rates and charges challenge, said ACI President George Howard.
TWA has appointed one of America West's founding officers, Don Monteath, as senior VP-operations in charge of maintenance, flight operations, airport operations and inflight services, subject to approval this month by the board of directors. Monteath holds the same position with Polar Air Cargo. Before joining Polar, he served as senior VP-operations at America West until last February. Monteath worked for America West for 12 years and previously held various positions at Continental for 16 years.
Delta, which reported its first transatlantic operating profit in three years for the September quarter, narrowed its transatlantic losses considerably in the December quarter, the airline said yesterday. Delta will report to DOT a $38 million operating loss on transatlantic operations for the quarter ended Dec. 31, a 70% improvement from the same 1993 period, when it lost $125 million.
Southwest headed the three main performance categories for the third year in a row, according to DOT's Air Travel Consumer Report, issued yesterday. The report showed the carrier had an 86.6% on-time record. On average, the nation's 10 largest airlines' flights arrived on time 81.5% of the time. Southwest also had the fewest reported baggage problems, 4.16 per 1,000 passengers and 0.23 customer complaints per 100,000 passengers, among the majors.
Willy Moses was named chief executive officer of SEXTANT Holdings Inc., a group subsidiary comprising in particular the San Antonio based satcom equipment business, and product support and marketing activities in Miami.
