January 24, 1995 Texas Instruments, Incorporated, Defense Systems and Electronics Group, Dallas, Texas, is being awarded a $5,788,930 face value increase to a firm- fixed-price contract for 10 turret upgrade kits for the Infrared Acquisition Designation System (IRADS) applicable to the F-117 aircraft. Contract is expected to be completed October 1998. Contract funds will not expired at the end of the current fiscal year. The Aeronautical Systems Center is the contracting activity (F33657-94-C-2029, P00002).
Capitol Air resumed service yesterday between St. Paul, Minn., and Chicago Midway under the banner of Air L.A., the California-based regional carrier that is buying it (DAILY, Jan. 19). Al Claseman, chief executive, said Capitol Air will operate under the name Air L.A. until shareholders approve operating as Capitol Air. Claseman said Capitol Air eventually will resume flights to Des Moines and Milwaukee, and by the end of the year it intends to operate to Omaha, Madison and Fargo.
FAA yesterday invited U.S. carriers to propose cooperative agreements to demonstrate baggage inspection based on an advanced, FAA-certified explosive detection system for one year at a security-sensitive U.S. airport. An applicant must operate 10-15 flights per day from the airport it proposes to "extraordinary security locations" outside the U.S. Prospective applicants may request the solicitation through Feb. 14, and responses are due March 16.
Worldspan plans to implement "unbundled pricing" for booking activity that occurs in IATA Traffic Conference 1, effective March 1. IATA Traffic Conference 1 is essentially North and South America. Apollo and System One already use unbundled or transaction-based processing, and Worldspan's switch will leave Sabre as the only U.S. computer reservations system using the net segment billing method, Worldspan said.
Swissair charter subsidiary Balair/CTA plans to offer nonstop flights from Calgary and Vancouver to Zurich this summer. Other North American destinations are Miami, Orlando, San Francisco and Anchorage. Calgary replaces Halifax as the stopover for the carrier's San Francisco flight, reducing the flying time one hour in each direction, the airline said. From Zurich, connections are available on Balair/CTA to 29 European destinations. Balair/CTA operates A310s on its transatlantic routes.
Confirming a decision it made in December, aircraft leasing company Bavaria Fluggesellschaft of Munich has ordered two 737-700 transports for delivery in December 1997, plus two more "subject to later reconfirmation," Boeing said yesterday. The two on firm order are valued at about $80 million, Boeing said. The leasing company said last month that it intended to order the aircraft.
EDS and Amadeus Global Travel Distribution have signed a joint marketing agreement to coordinate their sales and marketing activities in support of EDS's SHARES airline reservations and inventory control system and Amadeus's computer reservations and distribution system. EDS, which described the pact as a non-exclusive, worldwide airline-related agreement, intends to modify SHARES to enhance its connectivity with Amadeus.
Alaska Air Group yesterday reported 1994 net earnings of $22.5 million, or $1.68 per share, a turnaround of more than $53 million from 1993, when it suffered a net loss of $30.9 million, or $2.51 per share. The company also posted an operating profit of just under $75 million for the year, compared with an operating loss of $16.8 million from the previous year. Operating revenue increased 16.6% for the year, and operating expenses rose 8.3%.
Pentagon comptroller John Hamre said Friday that adoption of the balanced budget constitutional amendment like the one approved by the House probably would mean that the Defense Dept. would have to cut a total of at least $200 billion between fiscal 1996 and 2002 to reach a balanced budget by 2002.
Leaking plumbing in a reaction control system could force Japan to slip its planned February launch of an H-II booster, already delayed once, even more, the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) reported yesterday.
Pratt&Whitney's engine for Boeing's new 777 widebody twin, the PW4084, on Saturday successfully completed its 3,000-cycle test, a series designed to simulate six years of airline service, P&W reported yesterday.
AirTran Corp., the parent company of Northwest Airlink carrier Mesaba Aviation and of startup jet carrier AirTran Airways, reported a net loss of $126,000, or one cent per share, on operating revenues of $35.8 million in the December quarter. In the same quarter last year, AirTran had net earnings of $924,000, or 10 cents per share, on revenues of $32.5 million. AirTran's December quarter 1994 operating loss was $475,000, compared with an operating profit the year before of nearly $1.7 million. The December quarter is the third of AirTran's fiscal year.
World Airways' total block hours increased 27.9% in December to 2,235 from 1,748 hours a year ago, and its average daily aircraft utilization rose more than 35% to 9.2 hours from 6.8 hours. "These results keep us on our target of having the airline operate at close to breakeven in the fourth quarter," said Coleman Andrews, chief executive of World's parent company, WorldCorp. "We may still be in the red for the quarter, but we will have a significantly smaller loss than the $3.5 million airline operating loss incurred in the fourth quarter a year ago," he said.
An SR-71 is scheduled to begin sonic boom tests at Dryden Flight Research Center during the second week of February as part of NASA's long- range work on supersonic transport issues. As many as 10 flights are planned in the sequence. The tests were planned to begin the first week of February, but installation of special sensors caused the one-week delay, according to a NASA spokesperson.
ESCO ELECTRONICS CORP., St. Louis, said McDonnell Douglas has chosen its Hazeltine subsidiary to provide the AN/APX-111 CIT (Combined Interrogator Transponder) system for the U.S. Navy's planned IFF upgrade of the F/A-18C/D aircraft. The first contract for engineering development and production is valued at $6 million with options for $5 million, ESCO said. Over the next several years, it said, up to 500 F/A-18C/Ds are expected to be retrofitted with the IFF system. The initial customer for the CIT was Kuwait, which has installed the system in 40 F/A-18 aircraft.
President Clinton is extending a moratorium on U.S. nuclear testing, National Security Adviser Anthony Lake said yesterday. "The President has decided to extend the moratorium on its nuclear tests until a CTB [Comprehensive Test Ban] Treaty enters into force," Lake said at a non-proliferation conference in Washington. The moratorium expires in September, and the treaty is expected to be signed before Sept. 30, 1996. The U.S. conducted its last nuclear test in 1992.
Air New Zealand has lengthened by one month its $499 companion fare promotion, allowing passengers to begin travel as early as April 1. Companion travelers also will have the option of a stopover in Nadi, Fiji, on selected flights. Air New Zealand's special fare allows companions to fly for $499 roundtrip with the purchase of one promotional-fare roundtrip from Los Angeles to Sydney, to Auckland or a combination of these destinations.
Researchers from NASA and the Environmental Protection Agency have used a trio of harmless viruses to test how well a prototype Space Station Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) can handle viral particles that might find their way into the Station drinking water supply.
PACER SYSTEMS, Billerica, Mass., has won a $2 million contract from the Royal Australian Air Force to support the upgrade of the RAAF's P-3 maritime patrol aircraft. Pacer's work, to be carried out at its Horsham, Pa., facility, will verify and validate the systems integration being done by the prime contractor for the RAAF upgrade, E-Systems Inc. It was the first contract won by Pacer in support of an Australian customer. The P-3 upgrade is the first of several planned by other countries.
Continental Express, unable to operate some of its short hops profitably, has found a new way to get passengers from one airport to another and onto its aircraft - by bus. The carrier will transport passengers on 15-seat vans from Allentown, Pa., to Newark beginning tomorrow, and from Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport to Cleveland starting March 15. It is considering the van service for additional markets in which operation of its 30-passenger Embraer Brasilia aircraft is not profitable, said Geoff Moss, VP-marketing.
The House National Security Committee is set to mark up the National Security Revitalization Act today in a major step toward moving the Republican legislation to the House floor. Panel Chairman Floyd Spence (R-S.C.) told The DAILY Friday he expects the committee to approve the legislation with no major changes. He vowed that the legislation, part of the Republican Contract With America, will move forward with or without Democratic support.
USAir Group posted Friday a 1994 net loss of nearly $685 million, including one-time charges of $226.1 million, and, despite indications that it is close to a concessionary agreement with its unions, the company said it will move ahead with alternate plans to cut costs by shrinking the airline. Turning up the pressure on labor to agree to concessions, USAir Chairman Seth Schofield revealed plans to defer the delivery of eight 757s scheduled next year and the existence of a tentative agreement on the disposal of the carrier's Indianapolis hangar.
Rep. Charles Wilson (D-Tex.), in a House Appropriations national security subcommittee hearing, goes after Deputy Defense Secretary John Deutch's Jan. 3 memo to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) on funding for the PAC-3 multimode team. Wilson says this is a "continued determination on the part of the Deputy Secretary to keep Raytheon in the game" after selection of Texas-based Loral Vought. "That is very frustrating" and contrary to the intent of Congress, Wilson tells Defense Secretary William J. Perry. Perry replies that he will discuss it with Deutch.
