A group of investors around Spanish billionaire Alicia Koplowitz plans to submit a formal bid for Iberia in the next few weeks, with an offer price of around €3.60-3.90 ($5.25-5.69) per share (valuing the airline at up to €3.7 billion). It would be the first competitor to the team of TPG and British Airways .
NASA has restored two instruments trimmed from its planned 2009 Mars Science Laboratory lander after some cost-cutting brought them back within the bounds of the tight-money policy being followed by Alan Stern, associate administrator for science. The Mars Descent Imager, designed to photograph the surface below as the lander descends, will fly after all, now that Malin Space Science Systems “has agreed that there will be no additional costs to NASA,” according to a letter from Stern to the planetary science community.
Don Daniels has been named vice president/controller and Noreen Courtney-Wilds vice president-sales of JetBlue Airways . Daniels was assistant controller, Courtney-Wilds has been director of sales and distribution.
Airports Council International (ACI) is pushing for its members to move toward becoming more carbon-neutral. The organization wants airports to implement programs that include: ground service equipment emissions reduction; electrical power and pre-conditioned air supply to aircraft at gates; public transport; energy-efficient infrastructure; environmental management systems; and developing natural habitats surrounding airports.
Robert Wall (Tel Aviv), David A. Fulghum (Tel Aviv)
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is exploring the launch of a new regional jet, as well as long-term plans to upgrade the aerospace and defense company’s business jets.
In many ways, it’s the best of times for the global aerospace, defense and airline industries. Production lines are humming at Boeing, Airbus and business aircraft manufacturers as they book orders at a record pace. U.S. defense spending has defied predictions of a slowdown. Almost every U.S. aerospace company outperformed Wall Street’s profit expectations in the third quarter. And airlines are flying packed aircraft and generating profits.
Sikorsky will develop a new version of the Schweitzer 333 helicopter for Saudi Arabia in a move that underscores the health of the Middle East rotorcraft market, and its rapid transformation into a balanced civil/military market. Under a deal struck here last week worth more than $1 billion to the Saudi interior ministry, Sikorsky agreed to supply nine Schweitzer 434s, an upgraded version of the 333, along with 16 S-92 transports and 15 S-72Ds, a new variant equipped with a Thales glass cockpit.
The Boeing Business Jet stands at a crossroads in avionics technology—exploiting all the flight deck systems available to airlines operating the 737, while serving as a showcase for advanced bizjet avionics that air carriers may one day want. The BBJ often serves as a pathfinder for the latest systems that eventually could find their way onto commercial 737 flight decks.
A December launch to the International Space Station for Europe’s Columbus laboratory in the space shuttle Atlantis is looking more likely after a week of orbital catch-up by the station crew. Expedition 16 commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineer Dan Tani are scheduled to go outside the station twice this week—on Nov. 20 and Nov. 24—to connect power and data cables and ammonia cooling pipes as they continue pushing to recover time lost to an emergency solar array repair Nov. 3 (AW&ST Nov. 12, p. 36).
Capt. Robert W. Fogelsanger (America West/US Airways)
While Capt. Scott Theuer claims the US Airline Pilots Assn. has enough cards to call for an election to get rid of ALPA (AW&ST Oct. 15, p. 17), I cannot imagine that USAPA would get cards from any former America West pilot. Why would any America West pilot support an organization whose only reason for being is to throw out the Nicolau seniority award and staple more than three-quarters of the former America West pilots to the bottom of the seniority list?
Eurocopter has acquired full control of U.K.-based McAlpine Helicopters as part of a move to reinforce its network of sales and support facilities. McAlpine, in which Eurocopter already held a 10% stake, supports a fleet of 200 rotorcraft and employs about 170 people.
David J. Buonanno has been named to the board of directors of the Air Industries Group Inc. , Bay Shore, N.Y. He has been an executive with the Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. and General Electric Co.
Gorik Hossepian (see photos) has been named vice president-navigation and positioning systems for the Northrop Grumman Corp. ’s Navigation Systems Div., Woodland Hills, Calif. He was vice president-situational awareness systems and has been succeeded by Ike Song, who was director of strategic programs and business development.
Martin Bentrott has been named vice president-Middle East and Africa sales for Boeing Commercial Airplanes . He succeeds Lee Monson, who will be taking a leave. Bentrott has been vice president-sales and marketing operations.
In the past two years, Boeing boosted its business aviation sales with high-value orders for 15 wide-body jets (mostly 787 VIPs) worth $3.5 billion. Since a 787 VIP costs two to three times more than a BBJ narrow-body 737, these recent wide-body orders produced revenue within roughly $2 billion of what has been earned in a dozen years of selling 151 BBJs. And the demand for 787 VIP models is so strong, the company says it could sell nearly $2 billion more of them in the next few years if only they were available.
The U.S. Army has ordered $17 million worth of Raytheon’s TOW bunker-buster missiles for the Canadian Army. A total of 462 missiles will be delivered in the first international sale of the new fragmenting, high-explosive warhead design, which is optimized to destroy a range of targets, particularly those associated with complex urban terrain.
Rhett C. Ross has become president of Teledyne Continental Motors Inc. , Thousand Oaks, Calif. He succeeds Bryan L. Lewis, who will be retiring on Feb. 1. Chris T. Kuehn will succeed Ross as president of Teledyne Energy Systems Inc. Kuehn was its vice president of commercial products-hydrogen generators.
Boeing is moving ahead on its part of the Lockheed Martin Orion crew exploration vehicle, completing a long-awaited developmental heat shield and shipping it to Kennedy Space Center for inspection. Boeing made the thermal protection system (TPS) from Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) material, which was used successfully in the heat shield for NASA’s Stardust comet sample return spacecraft. The unit is assembled from multiple PICA pieces, each “significantly” larger than the reusable ceramic TPS tiles on NASA’s space shuttle.
I have watched the KC-X competition with interest and am intrigued by the advocacy of some of my fellow retired generals. As a part of the fighter community for 29 years, as a Joint Forces commander and later as commander of the U.S. Transportation Command and Air Mobility Command, I have a unique perspective on the complexity of tanker operations.
Hawker Beechcraft Corp. has received FAA certification of its King Air 350ER, which features extended range, a heavy-duty landing gear installation and increased gross weight (16,500 lb. from 15,000 lb.). The twin-turboprop-powered 350ER is a derivative of the King Air 350 business aircraft. Additional fuel is carried in tanks installed in the engine nacelles. With a full load of fuel, the airplane can fly out 100 naut. mi. and remain on station for up to 7 hr. 20 min., fly back to base, and land with more than 45 min. of fuel on board, according to the company.
Boeing has realigned its production plans for the first 747-8F to allow completion of the final 747-400Fs by the end of 2008—several months earlier than scheduled. As a result, the first -8F will be built three months later than planned. Michael Teal, deputy chief project engineer, says Boeing now expects to roll out the airplane in February 2009 with initial delivery to launch customer Cargolux in October, leaving a relatively short flight test window.
True Flight Holdings LLC has been cleared to purchase the assets of bankrupt Tiger Aircraft, builder of the four-seat, single-engine Tiger light airplane. The acquisition includes Tiger’s FAA type certificates, parts and materials, as well as tooling. Kevin Lancaster, CEO of True Flight Holdings, says he plans to resume production of the Tiger and will relocate manufacturing to a site in Georgia. From 2001-06 Tiger Aircraft, of Martinsburg, W. Va., built more than 50 AG‑5B Tigers before financial problems forced the company to file for bankruptcy in January 2007.
Vic Gregg has been promoted to director of operations from Asia-Pacific regional director for Universal Aviation of Houston. He has been succeeded by Lex den Herder. Curt Kurshildgen has been named operational standards and training manager.
