DigitalGlobe is gaining a web-based search engine through its Jan. 8 acquisition of GlobeXplorer from Steward REI Group, to add to its high-resolution commercial satellite imagery.
With an eye to cost-saving, the U.K. Defense Ministry's Combat Support Equipment Integrated Product Team tapped Qinetiq to manage, under a £4-million ($7.8-million) two-year contract, the supply of 22 types of commercially available batteries. "On a number of occasions the Defense Ministry has stated that it spends the same amount administering its various battery contracts as it does in buying the product," says Steve Farmer, Qinetiq's battery program manager.
The Transportation Security Administration has unveiled a pilot program that will allow commercial advertising at passenger screening checkpoints in select airports in the U.S. and its territories. Vendors, working with airports, would provide bins, tables and bin return carts free to TSA in exchange for approved advertisements displayed on the bottom of the inside of bins. Proposals are due by Feb. 16.
Merged with Air France in 2004 - financial division is estimated PO Box 7700, 1117ZL Shiphol Airport, NETHERLANDS Code: KL Employees: 30,164 www.klm.com Tel. (31-20) 649-9123 Fax (31-20) 649-2324 Ownership: 18.6% state; 13.8% employees; 10.7% individual shareholders; 19.1% French institutional shareholders; 1.5% Treasury stock; 36.3% foreign institutional shareholders Executive Management President & CEO Leo M. van Wijk Deputy CEO Peter F. Hartman
Air Force Aerospatiale AS365N (6) Agusta AB205 (22) Agusta AB212 (24) Agusta AB412EP (8) Agusta AS-61A4 (2) Aircraft Tech Ind CN-235 (4) BAE Systems Hawk 65 (25) BAE Systems Hawk 65A (15) Bell Helicopter Textron 412SA (8) Boeing 737-700BBJ (1) Boeing 737-800 (1) Boeing 747SP (2) Boeing 757-200 (1) Boeing E-3A (7) Boeing F-15S (69) Boeing KE-3A (6) Boeing MD-11 (2)
Aircraft components supplier TransDigm Group announced a deal to acquire Aviation Technologies Inc., a Seattle-based supplier of aircraft interior products, for $430 million in cash. ATI has 600 employees in the U.S. and Malaysia, and posted revenues of $105 million last year.
Russia is embarking on a far-reaching 20-year effort to reinvent its air traffic management network, with almost 90% of its existing centers proposed for closure as control is centralized. If fully implemented, the revamp will cost the Kremlin $5.9 billion. The scale of the ambition cannot be questioned, but the ability to deliver such sweeping change has yet to be evident. The government is giving the go-ahead to a proposal by the Federal Air Navigation Service (Rosaeronavigatcia), which maps out a two-decade development project.
The past year has not been a happy one for investors in European aerospace and defense (A&D) stocks. While the U.S. A&D sector outpaced the American stock markets by 9% in 2006, European A&D companies underperformed their markets by 13%, rising less than 3%, notes Steve East, a London-based analyst for Credit Suisse.
NASA is trying to be more efficient in space exploration spending, but taxpayers shouldn't expect the agency to match industry's productivity. Administrator Michael Griffin tells the Space Transportation Assn. that the time is ripe for "nontraditional" procurements like the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) effort to buy rides to the International Space Station.
Boeing snagged a $469.8-million contract modification for extended Block II remanufacturing of the AH-64 Apache Longbow advanced attack helicopter. It also won a $29-million add-on contract from the U.S. Air Force to design and install Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures on three C-40B aircraft. Meanwhile, Boeing's new P-8A multi-mission maritime aircraft has officially been named the Poseidon. Initial fielding of a P-8A is scheduled for 2013.
Cathay Pacific carried 16.7 million passengers last year, 8.4% more than in 2005, with the cabin load factor rising 1.2 percentage points to 79.9%. Its freight business rose to 1.2 million metric tons from 1.1 million.
Dennis Crabtree has become vice president-safety and security for Frontier Airlines. He was director of aviation services for FEI Behavioral Health. Crabtree succeeds Tom Nunn, who is now president of Frontier subsidiary Lynx Aviation.
