Singapore's Tiger Airways' plan to fly budget services in Australia, announced this month, is stirring up the market there. Domestic budget carrier Virgin Blue, which is expanding and drifting toward full-service standards, now says it may set up a pure low-cost airline. That's just a maybe, but Virgin Blue is moving to establish an international carrier under yet another brand to fly to the U.S. Since Qantas also has two brands, the country of just 21 million people will have six mainline carriers, if everyone's plans go ahead.
The British will withdraw 1,600 troops from southern Iraq in the coming two to three months, with a further 500 to follow in the third quarter. The remaining British forces will be concentrated at the Basra air station.
The United Arab Emirates is continuing to revamp its air force inventory, with a decision in principle to acquire Airbus A330-based tankers and the selection of the winners of its trainer competitions anticipated by year-end. Bidders for both basic and advanced jet trainer requirements were whittled down to six during the International Defense Exhibition, held here Feb. 18-22. The air force is aiming to acquire 24-30 basic trainers, and up to 40 advanced jet trainers. The contracts could be worth approximately $1.5 billion.
USAF Reserve Brig. Gen. Frank J. Casserino is among seven officers who have been nominated for promotion to major general. He is mobilization assistant to the Air Force undersecretary. The others are: Stephen P. Gross, mobilization assistant to the commander of the Aeronautical Systems Center, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; Clay T. McCutchan, mobility assistant to the commander, 18th Air Force, Air Mobility Command, Scott AFB, Ill.; Frank J.
Thales has opened a new customer service support center at Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai for its Air Systems division to service Thales products in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, as well as Egypt, Iran, Pakistan and Yemen. The center will provide maintenance services including technical assistance, spare parts and repairs management to both civil and military customers in the region.
The first ground demonstration of the engine for the Joint Standoff Weapon-Extended Range was completed at Raytheon's Tucson, Ariz., facility. The test was used to evaluate a flush inlet design and monitor overall performance of the 150-lb.-thrust engine. A free flight is planned for 2008 with production to begin in 2011.
MARKET FOCUS Investor caution keeps BAE's price below U.S. counterparts' 11 NEWS BREAKS Faulty solar arrays on early Boeing 702 satellites continue to haunt company 18 BAE to test potential sensors for its Herti long-endurance tactical UAV 19 IAI and Technion developing SunSailor unmanned solar-powered aircraft 20 Sea Launch hopes to resume service, be- gin Land Launch variant, both in '07 21 Obituary for ex-General Electric Aviation head Brian Rowe 21
Alenia Aeronautica has begun making the first production horizontal stabilizer for the Boeing 787, at its plant in Foggia, Italy. The stabilizer mimics the aircraft's composite wing. It consists of two monolithic co-cured composite boxes that are 66 ft. long that weigh nearly 1,200 lb. It's being cured in a single piece in an autoclave polymerization cycle that starts from 27 wet uncured complex components.
An airline that cancels more than 20% of its flights over a six-day period and strands hundreds of passengers for hours in aircraft on taxiways has problems with its operations and even bigger problems for its public relations apparatus. If the airline is JetBlue Airways, it tackles the problems head-on. Both campaigns had better work.
The commercial helicopter business is riding a wave of prosperity that shows no signs of slowing in the next few years, thanks chiefly to stable global economics and rising demand for vertical-lift assets to meet an increasingly diverse mix of missions.
France and Germany are throwing up hurdles to a NATO plan to purchase C-17s to bolster the alliance's much-needed strategic airlift capability. Their opposition is seen as stemming partly from a desire to protect their own industrial interests in the form of the Airbus Military A400M, even though that project continues to experience delays. The latest setback involves flight testing of the first TP400-D6 turbofan, which has slipped to the summer from the end of March, according to aircraft and engine-maker representatives.
Trying to steal some sleep under canvas after a long-shift, surrounded by duck-boards and mud, an ear cocked for the noise of an inbound rocket, isn't necessarily what recruits may have expected in signing up for the Royal Air Force. It is, however, now part of the package of expeditionary warfare.
Obviously, EADS's turbulent flight path requires its top executives to deeply revise their corporate governance. Recent events called our attention to such perennial problems as the group's inability to speak with a single voice. Despite the claims of the group's co-CEOs Louis Gallois and Tom Enders EADS is still striving to operate as a unified company, although this attempt remains largely unsuccessful.
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Denise Lynn (see photo) has been appointed vice president-global human resources services for American Airlines. She succeeds Debra Hunter Johnson, who has resigned. Lynn was vice president-people for American Eagle.
NASA and Virgin Galactic, the U.S. subsidiary of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, will explore possible collaboration on a number of technologies under an agreement negotiated through the U.S. agency's commercial "space portal" at Ames Research Center, Calif. Possible research areas include spacesuits, spacecraft thermal protection, hybrid-fuel rocket motors and hypersonic vehicles.
General Electric conducted its first test flight Feb. 22 of the GEnx-1B engine for the Boeing 787. Capt. Phil Schultz kept GE's 747-100 testbed in the air for more than 3 hr. as the engine was put through its first shakeout. Certification is set for the third quarter of this year.
Eutelsat Chairman/CEO Giuliano Berretta insists that he is no more likely to make a takeover move than before private equity partners sold out to a pair of infrastucture holding companies earlier this year. "We just chose to focus on profits rather than acquisitions," he said, suggesting Eutelsat may choose to resist consolidation in the satcom industry.
Peter Lichtenbaum has become vice president-regulatory compliance and international policy for Washington-based BAE Systems Inc. He was a partner in the Washington law firm of Steptoe and Johnson and an assistant Commerce secretary for export administration.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has slipped the next launch attempt for its low-cost Falcon 1 rocket to mid-March at the earliest, says Gwynne Shotwell, vice president for business development. The earliest launch window for the flight out of Kwajalein Atoll is on Mar. 9. "We certainly hope to launch prior to the 16th of March," Shotwell says. Meanwhile, development is proceeding smoothly on the much larger Falcon 9 rocket, Shotwell says, which the company hopes to introduce by 2008 at a price of $35 million (see p. 17).
An RTCA symposium on the FAA's plans for a next generation air traffic system mentioned in Inside Avionics (AW&ST Feb. 19, p. 47) will take place Mar. 13-14, not Mar. 19.
USAF Col. (ret.) Michael R. Gallagher (Hillsboro, Ore.)
Keeping advanced weapon systems (F-22 and V-22) out of Iraq makes no sense (AW&ST Feb. 5, p. 22). I strongly disagree with Air Combat Command Gen. Ronald Keys' point about embarrassment if they are shot down. If these advanced, expensive systems don't operate as expected in Iraq, what can we expect in a more challenging environment against a more capable adversary? Virtually every weapons system in history has been found wanting to some degree when tested in combat.
Bombardier Business Aircraft opened its Dallas Service Center at Love Field on Feb. 20. The 100,000-sq.-ft. facility includes a 52,500-sq.-ft. hangar and 45,000 sq. ft. of space for shops and offices. The hangar will accommodate the company's larger business jets such as the Global Express and Challenger series.
Aging issues related to the leading low-Earth-orbit satphone operators are reigniting fears of a meltdown like the one that struck Globalstar and Iridium half a decade ago. On Feb. 5, Globalstar revealed that its LEO constellation is experiencing faster degradation of amplifiers on the S-band antenna than had been anticipated. Unless remedied, it said, there would be a significant adverse impact on the company's ability to provide uninterrupted two-way voice and data services.
Sea Launch says it hopes to return to service later this year and to begin operating its Land Launch derivative from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, in the third quarter of this year, as planned. In an unusually tense session at the Satellite 2007 conference in Washington last week, customers slammed Sea Launch, Land Launch and the Launch Services Alliance, which is a mutual backup arrangement among Sea Launch, Arianespace and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
