Even as Airbus has gone from misstep to misstep in its long-range product portfolio, it has been introducing significant efficiency enhancements in its single-aisle production process to keep pace with strong demand (see pp. 37 and 44). In its Hamburg facility, Airbus has introduced a moving line to speed the building of fuselage assemblies, which has allowed the manufacturer to boost output of A320-family aircraft steadily. Another production hike may be in store as Airbus decides whether it can build 40 single-aisle aircraft per month at its Toulouse and Hamburg sites.
Mistral Air, the French postal service's carrier, will start offering charter passenger flights in April. The service aims to increase fleet utilization, by flying aircraft during the day and on weekends in passenger roles and continuing to use them at night for postal missions. Mistral Air is leasing three Boeing 737s, which can be reconfigured in less than 1 hr. from a cargo role (with a 16-18-ton payload) to a full passenger configuration with 142-148 seats. The three aircraft are to be delivered by June.
Helicopter service life extension study work is being funded by the Defense Ministry as it struggles to come up with a coherent Future Rotorcraft Capability program. EADS will study upgrade options for the Royal Air Force's Puma, to extend the helicopter's service life at least until 2022. Up to 35 Pumas could be upgraded with improved engines, avionics, communications and defensive aids.
NASA will need to spend about $1 billion more a year than it has allocated in the past to keep the International Space Station supplied with crews and cargo once the space shuttle fleet is grounded for good in 2010.
Skimming toward its closest approach on Feb. 25, the Philae lander on the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe imaged Mars's Syrtis region and took a self-portrait at the same time (see photo). Four minutes later, the spacecraft passed within 1,000 km. (621 mi.) of the surface in a gravity-boost swingby that will bring it back for another Earth flyby in November. The winding route is designed to take Rosetta and its lander to the comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 (AW&ST Mar. 14, 2005, p. 17).
There are plenty of pitfalls ahead for Airbus as it tries to solidify its business and move from crisis management mode onto smooth operations. As if overcoming A380 production problems, designing the A350XWB twin widebody, implementing the Power8 cost-cutting scheme, and boosting production on the single-aisle family weren't enough, the strength of the air transport market continues to present more challenges.
The first launch of a medium-lift Soyuz booster from the Kourou Space Center is increasingly likely to miss its 2008 launch target. But the sting from the latest delay could be eased by unrelated schedule problems with the European Galileo satellite navigation system, which is to provide some of the first payloads for the Europeanized Russian rocket.
The Australian government is combining helicopter aircraft training programs for the army and navy. Under the restructured Helicopter Aircrew Training System project, the service plans to spend $390-700 million to replace Kiowa and Squirrel helos with a common type. The Australian Defense Ministry says joint training should make it easier for army and navy troops to fight better side by side. A final procurement decision is slated for 2009.
There are small aerospace electronics companies and then there are tiny ones like Kinetic Avionics Products Ltd., which started up two years ago and has already sold 4,000 units of the first system it invented. Not bad for a company run by two owners with two full-time employees who together design equipment but outsource almost everything else, from production to product support. "We outsource, but we ensure quality," says David Goodman, managing director and co-founder of Kinetic, headquartered in London.
Bell Helicopter Textron has completed a landmark, nine-year fatigue test program for the V-22 Osprey, demonstrating the airframe has sufficient structural integrity to fly for at least 20,000 hr. or 20 years.
Prof. Tina Anderson has become assistant chair for academics for the Aviation Dept. in the University of North Dakota's John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences.
The American Civil Liberties Union calls it a "virtual strip search," but the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) thinks it has a solution to the revealing images provided by new backscatter X-ray passenger screening technology. Using the SmartCheck screening system manufactured by American Science and Engineering (AS&E), TSA is testing the controversial technology at Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport.
There are least 30 Chinese anti-satellite concepts and tactics that could be a factor in any future U.S.-Chinese military space face-off. This is in spite of Chinese assertions that it is only working on civilian space projects now that its Jan. 11 anti-satellite (Asat) test was a success, says the U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission (see p. 24). This political stance does not necessarily pass for reality, however, the report indicates.
NASA spending cuts in Fiscal 2007 will add four to six months to the four-year gap after the space shuttle retires before the U.S. can launch humans into space again. Administrator Michael Griffin tells the Senate Commerce space subcommittee his agency has been struggling to meet the 2014 deadline President Bush set to get the Orion crew exploration vehicle flying atop its Ares I launch vehicle.
Veteran Rep. Ike Skelton, 75, (D-Mo.) became chairman of the House Armed Services Committee when Democrats won control of Congress after the last election. Skelton, who's been a House member since 1977, sat down with AVIATION WEEK editors John M. Doyle and Michael Bruno in his Capitol Hill office to discuss the war in Iraq, technology transfer and the committee's priorities. Excerpts follow:
Brad Lawrence has been appointed corporate group vice president of the Esterline Corp., Bellevue, Wash. He was president of Esterline's Coeur d'Alene, Idaho-based Advanced Input Systems subsidiary and general manager of Esterline's Interface Technologies Group.
JSA Research expects Boeing to overtake Airbus in delivered aircraft in 2009 and hold the lead at least into the middle of the next decade. Analyst Peter J. Arment expects Boeing to produce 444 aircraft this year, up from 398 in 2006. At that new rate, its current backlog of 2,457 will take 5.5 years to burn off. JSA evaluates the 2006 backlog at $250 billion and expects Boeing to add another $64.2 billion worth in 2007. Of that, $100 billion is in the company's best-seller, the 737. Arment's look at Boeing's numbers brings up an interesting point.
The first airline passenger rights legislation arising from the Feb. 14 Eastern U.S. icestorm that caused massive flight cancellations and delays has been introduced in Congress. The measure, introduced by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), gives passengers the right to deplane after ground delays of 3 hr. or more, with some exceptions. It also calls on the FAA to work out a plan with airlines to allow passenger offloading from long-delayed flights, without losing positions in the departure sequence.
Four more Harrier GR9s are being deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, as part of a U.K. force buildup. Other additional assets include four Sea King helicopters and a C-130 Hercules. An additional 1,400 troops are being sent, bringing the number of U.K. personnel deployed in the country to 7,700.
Letters 6-7 Who's Where 8-9 Industry Outlook 11 Airline Outlook 13 In Orbit 15 News Breaks 18-22 Washington Outlook 23 Arrivals 42 Close Up 52 Inside Avionics 60 Classified 55 Contact Us 56 Aerospace Calendar 57
It's become a cliche to note that the word for "crisis" in Chinese calligraphy contains the characters for "danger" and "opportunity." But top Air Force officials seem willing to seize the opportunity when discussing the military buildup in China, which is estimated to have increased defense spending 14.7% to $35.3 billion in 2006. "The Chinese are becoming awesome investors," Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne tells a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the service's $110.77-billion Fiscal 2008 budget request.
A proposed merger of government-run Indian Airlines and Air India is awaiting Cabinet approval, expected by Mar. 31, according to Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel. The new carrier will have 112 aircraft in its fleet and have the opportunity to regain market share the former carriers lost to Jet Airways and other private carriers. Meanwhile, Air India says it expects to save $150 million over 15 years by ordering General Electric GE90-115B engines for its 27 new Boeing 777-300ERs.
Air France-KLM are expanding ties with KLM's long-time partner Malaysia Airlines (MAS). The two have been code-sharing on flights from their hubs in Kuala Lumpur and Amsterdam since 1998, and will now expand that to many routes within Malaysia. In return, MAS customers will be given code-share benefits on European routes operated by Air France-KLM.
Spain's infrastructure ministry in the summer will start operating the first of three EADS CASA CN-235-300 maritime surveillance aircraft to patrol its economic exclusion zone, perform search and rescue support and monitor pollution.
