A deal for Stork to expand its U.S. operations by acquiring a controlling interest in Limco Airepair and Piedmont Aviation Component Services has fallen through. Negotiations broke down between seller TAT Technologies and Stork, and the deal is off. Cooperation between Fokker Services and Piedmont as well as Limco remains unaffected. Meanwhile, Stork is continuing its fight with dissident shareholders Centaurus and Paulson.
Air Force Aerocomp Comp Air 7Sl (6) Bell Helicopter Textron 206 (5) Bell Helicopter Textron UH-1H (4) Jordan Aerospace Sama Ch2000 (6) Lockheed C-130E (3) Mil Mi-171 (4) Mil Mi-17-1V (4) Seabird Aviation Australia SB7L (2)
An ambitious program to launch a National Flight Academy (NFA) in concert with an expansion of the National Museum of Naval Aviation is on track to break ground late this year. The new academy will employ the lure of aviation to kindle an interest in mathematics, science and technology among students in grades 7-12.
Malaysian budget airline AirAsia has agreed in principle to buy a 20% stake in Fly Asian Express, a turboprop operator that plans to act as its long-haul affiliate. It belongs to the same investors that set up AirAsia and said this month it would offer wide-body services to China and Britain under the licensed brand AirAsia X.
The German government says it has found a group of national investors to buy the 7.5% stake in EADS that majority shareholder DaimlerChrysler wants to unload. Daimler has been looking to reduce its 22.5% stake, with Berlin officials keen to have those shares remain in German hands to maintain the balance between Germany and France.
Air Force Aermacchi SF.260E (25) Aerospatiale SA330J (4) Antonov An-32B (4) Bell Helicopter Textron 205A1 (1) Bell Helicopter Textron 206 (12) Bell Helicopter Textron 212 (18) Bell Helicopter Textron 412EP (4) Boeing 727 (7) Boeing 737-200 Adv (1) Boeing 737-247C (1) Boeing 737-300 (1) Boeing 737-300F (1) Boeing 757-225 (1) Boeing C-118 (1) Cessna 182 (66) Cessna 206 (2) Cessna 210 (3)
Dominance of the worldwide fighter aircraft market by U.S. industry for the next several decades is looking less likely than many pundits had predicted. While the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter will no doubt set the standard by which Dassault, Eurofighter and Gripen International will be judged, and that aircraft may well emulate the success of the U.S. manufacturer's ubiquitous F-16, the JSF should not be seen as a virtual shoo-in to fill the requirements of the team of eight nations on its development.
Your editorial "Trying To Keep the Genie in the Bottle" (AW&ST Oct. 16, 2006, p. 82) concludes with the admonition that: "Instead of isolating itself and ignoring current and potential allies, the U.S. should add Russia, China, France, Germany, India and others to a truly meaningful coalition of the willing, one that can negotiate as effectively as it can fight."
