Labor groups at Airbus are drawing battle lines before the aircraft maker unveils cost-cutting plans next week. Workers are warning Airbus management they could torpedo production plans. Additionally, French and German unions are fighting each other to shift the cost-cutting burden to production facilities in the other country. Both labor groups have held demonstrations involving thousands of workers to signal their seriousness.
Douglas O. Stanley of NASA's National Institute of Aerospace, Hampton, Va., has been named the Peninsula Engineers Council Engineer of the Year. He is being recognized for technical leadership of NASA's Exploration Systems Architecture Study of returning humans to the Moon and on to Mars and beyond. Stanley led the 400-person study to define the systems, schedule, programs, budgets and technologies. He also has been named the AIAA Hampton Roads Section Engineer of the Year and received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal.
Airbus has found another customer for its A330-200 freighter, with Iceland-based Avion Aircraft Trading saying it will buy six. Also last week, Airbus announced China Sonangol is the buyer of three Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ) previously booked, and that a new Asian A319 ACJ buyer also has been found. Moreover, the first Asian A340-500 VIP aircraft order has been posted. Airbus started the year with 90 orders in January. The bulk of those, 50 A320-family aircraft, went to AirAsia.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, says she's still trying to find a way to "reimburse" the agency for costs it incurred in returning the shuttle fleet to service after the Columbia accident four years ago. She and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) introduced legislation that would have added $1 billion to NASA's Fiscal 2007 funding for that purpose, but it died at the end of last year's Congress.
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol added 4,000 positions in a 12-month period ending last October, representing a 6.4% increase in jobs over the previous 12 months and pushing the number of positions to 61,691. Of the job increases, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was responsible for 512; HMS Host added 399; ICT-NAS VOF, 233; Securitas & Aviation Security, 191; and DHL, 160. Also, Schiphol Group has founded Schiphol College, where non-degreed workers can enroll for vocational study.
Earl H. Dowell, who is William Holland Hall Professor at Duke University, Durham, N.C., has been selected to receive the 2007 Walter J. and Angeline H. Crichlow Trust Prize from the Reston, Va.-based American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The quadrennial prize honors excellence in aerospace materials, structural design, structural analysis or structural dynamics.
A judge's ruling that halted Fokker 100 and Boeing 737-700/-800 operations for Brazil's Gol Airlines at Sao Paulo's Congonhas Airport has been overturned on appeal by the National Civil Aviation Authority. The ruling stemmed from concerns about aircraft sliding off wet runways, although it was not applied to other aircraft types.
Sea Launch's Odyssey Launch Platform and the Commander assembly and control mother ship began what is typically a 12-18-day journey back to their home base in Long Beach, Calif., on Feb. 3, five days after a liftoff explosion of a Zenit-3SL booster doomed launch of SES New Skies' NSS-8 satellite (AW&ST Feb. 5, p. 27).
The U.S. Air Force/Navy proposed buy of 285 Raytheon Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (Amraam) in Fiscal 2008 is an effort by the Pentagon to address shortfalls. "Engine rocket motors and other parts obsolescence issues are shrinking the inventories by approximately 1,300 missiles" by Fiscal 2010, according to Air Force budget documents. Money in the Fiscal 2008 request would also begin Amraam D production.
China's Shanghai Airlines wants to create a base within the home territory of Hainan Airways--one of the country's three major airlines. Shanghai Airlines officials say they are negotiating with authorities to build the base on Hainan Island before the end of the year. In other news, China Aviation Industry Corp. I plans to establish a leasing company in cooperation with other aviation businesses to promote ARJ21 sales.
Researchers from England's Cambridge University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who have taken a clean- sheet approach to designing a quiet aircraft, draw the conclusion that a virtually silent commercial airplane is achievable, although there are caveats.
FAA's chief operating officer, Russell Chew, is stepping down from the agency at the end of this month, and some U.S. industry leaders are worried about how quickly the agency can fill his slot. The job is widely considered to be vital, thankless and underpaid, and it took the FAA more than a year to hire Chew as its first occupant. Air Transport Assn. CEO Jim May urges the FAA to move as fast as possible to replace Chew, although he admits finding someone of Chew's background and capabilities will be difficult.
The day is coming when UAVs will have better access to civil airspace, but it might be so far off that civil operators who want to do more now could be thwarted for years.
Bids are due this week for a presidential fleet of helicopters to be operated by the Indian air force, part of a broader rotary procurement program to revamp the country's military helicopter inventory. The outcome of the VIP bid is anticipated in 2008. AgustaWestland, Eurocopter, and Sikorsky are offering the EH101, Cougar and S-92, respectively.
United Parcel Service's pending order for 27 767-300ER freighters underscores the strength of that medium-size jet's appeal in commercial service even as Boeing is starting assembly of its replacement.
Ten years after NASA acquired a former airline Boeing 747 SP for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (Sofia) mission, a four-day flight readiness review was conducted by L-3 Communications in Waco, Tex., last week. Originally expected to enter service in 2001, Sofia has been beset with technical programmatic and funding issues and was saved only recently by a U.S.-German agreement (AW&ST Feb. 5, p. 30).
There will be a mix of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets in the U.S. Navy until at least 2030, and likely far beyond. What hasn't been decided--or at least what is once again in flux--is how many of each there will be and if either will be bumped aside by the next fundamental change in military aviation--the appearance of the long-range, long-endurance, unmanned combat aircraft.
Darrel Keesling has been named chief operating officer for St. Louis-based LMI Aerospace Inc. He was vice president/general manager of metal structures of GKN Aerospace Inc., Lisle, Ill.
Andy Nativi (Genoa), Joris Janssen Lok (The Hague)
AgustaWestland and Boeing are strengthening ties, based on the CH-47, with the European manufacturer to lead sales efforts for the Chinook in two key markets. The first target is the potential sale of the CH-47F Chinook to the Italian army, while a future British heavy-lift requirement is also in the sights. The two companies signed an agreement that focuses first on an Italian army aviation requirement, but has provisions for expansion to the U.K. and beyond.
The National Aeronautic Assn. has given the 2006 Collier Trophy to Lockheed Martin and the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter team for the "greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics" in America. The citation particularly notes the aircraft's performance during the Northern Edge Exercise in Alaska. The team also included Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, BAE Systems and the U.S. Air Force.
CAE IS EXPANDING ITS BURGESS HILL TRAINING FACILITY in the U.K. with four additional bays for simulators and has plans for more expansion in the future. The existing facility houses six simulators and projects that up to 6,000 pilots will receive instruction this year. Burgess Hill is CAE's chief base for business aviation training and offers programs for the Dassault Aviation Falcon 900EX and 2000EX with EASy cockpit and avionics, as well as the new Falcon 7X. In addition, the facility offers training for the Airbus A320, A340-600 and Boeing 747-400.
Thanks for having the courage to state in your editorial "Profits Are Nice But the Airline Glass Is Only Half Full" (AW&ST Jan. 22, p. 58) what many in the trenches know: the obscene salaries and stock options some have awarded themselves at the expense of the employees who contributed so much to these carriers. Your statement--"The last thing an employee needs is executives getting bonuses for the wonderful jobs they've done squeezing the last drop out of the system"--is right on target.
HOUSTON EXECUTIVE AIRPORT IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS after two years of construction. Located west of Houston, the facility is designed specifically to serve and support general aviation. Ron Henrikson, owner, says plans call for the existing runway to be lengthened to 7,000 ft. to accommodate larger business jets. Henrikson Jet Center is the primary fixed base operator and offers fuel and rental car service. Additional information can be found at www.HoustonExecutiveAirport.com.
Airports Council International forecasts that more than 9 billion passengers per year will take to the skies by 2025, compared to 4.2 billion in 2005. The growth rate will continue at an average annual rate of 4%, with Asia leading at a 9% rate until 2009. India, at 10.4%, and China, at 8.1%, have the fastest growing passenger volumes.
Engineers from across NASA are working on a design for an Orion crew exploration vehicle pressure shell made entirely of composite materials, but it will never get off the ground. Instead, the effort led by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) is aimed at gaining in-house composites experience for the agency to tap when it begins building other spacecraft needed for its lunar-and-beyond exploration effort, starting with an all-composite lunar lander and perhaps habitats for the Moon's surface.
