Civil aviation authority representatives from 27 Western and Central African countries convened this month to explore joint solutions for the continent's aviation problems. The group resolved to implement the International Civil Aviation Assn.'s practices, particularly those for safety and security. They also discussed the advantages of taking a regional approach in harmonizing aviation regulations, obtaining financing and perhaps even organizing a joint civil aviation authority such as Europe's JAA.
US Airways, which expects to report a sizable loss for the quarter ended Mar. 31, may apply for federal loan guarantees under the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act. In the short term, the airline's liquidity is adequate, according to Standard&Poor's.
James Bock, an astrophysicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers who are beginning their independent careers. Bock was cited for the detectors and instruments he has built for infrared millimeter wave astrophysics.
Embraer has selected the Goodrich Corp. to provide windshield heater controllers for the Embraer 145 regional jet series. The program includes production aircraft and retrofit upgrades.
Engine makers General Electric, Pratt&Whitney and Rolls-Royce are cautiously sizing up the competition as each prepares for a potentially bruising, three-way battle for market share on Boeing's proposed 747-400X Quiet Longer Range transport family.
UAL Corp. paid James E. Goodwin, the former chairman and CEO, a $5.4-million severance, according to a proxy statement filed Mar. 27 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This figure was based on three times his annual salary plus bonus. Goodwin resigned under pressure in October 2001 after notifying employees the company might perish if financial losses continued in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.
The leadership of the U.S. government is committed to using every tool at its disposal to prosecute the war on terrorism. Bush Administration officials have declared again and again that an all-out effort must include preventing the further spread of nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction. So securing the physical control of existing weapons and stockpiles is of the first importance everywhere, not just in Iraq or North Korea.
Renewed interest in cracks on the B-2 bomber is a politically motivated attempt to keep heavy bomber advocates in Congress on the defensive during budget negotiations, according to senior Pentagon officials. The Air Force for years has been monitoring cracks in the 300-lb., 100-in. long titanium plates aft of the bomber's engines. Currently, 16 of 21 bombers have cracks that average about 2 in. in length. A review team established in 2000 is developing repairs to extend the life of aft decks to be built during 2005-10.
Heinz Droxner has been promoted to worldwide president from president in Europe of the Seal Group of the Cleveland-based Parker Hannifin Corp. He succeeds Nick Vande Steeg, who is now corporate operating officer. Candy M. Obourn has been named to the corporate board of directors. She is chief operating officer of Kodak's Health Imaging Div.
South Korea has eliminated the Eurofighter and Su-30 in its fighter competition, taking Boeing's F-15K and Dassault's Rafale to a second round. A winner could be named late this month. Evaluations of the remaining rivals have shown a difference of less than 3% in their proposal, a South Korean Defense Ministry statement said. The next round of decisions will hinge not only on aircraft performance and price, but also on industrial and diplomatic factors, European and U.S. officials said.
L-3 Communications subsidiary Spar Aerospace Ltd. will upgrade the Hellenic Air Force's fleet of 15 C-130 aircraft. The three-year agreement is valued up to $90 million. Included in the work will be standardization of cockpit configurations, and installation of traffic alert and collision avoidance and enhanced ground proximity warning systems.
A decision should come this summer on spacecraft proposals submitted by Lockheed Martin Space Systems and TRW Space&Electronics to build the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System satellites. NPOESS will merge the U.S.' civil and military meteorological satellite systems. It will have some big shoes to fill. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite program and the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program each have about a 30-year heritage of service.
Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer experienced bittersweet success in 2001, succumbing to production slowdowns and 1,800 employee furloughs to weather the post-Sept. 11 economic downturn, but earning what CEO Mauricio Botelho called ``a moral victory'' after a contentious World Trade Organization battle.
Even before seeing results of a helicopter industrial base study, the Defense Dept.'s acquisition chief, E.C. (Pete) Aldridge, Jr., recognizes that all is not well. ``We believe there are problems here,'' he told reporters. The industrial base ``is not being sustained at the right rate . . . and we may have to make some type of adjustments.'' Aldridge says it isn't clear yet what those changes might be. But in the coming weeks he faces critical decisions on whether to buy AH-1Zs and UH-1Ys from Bell and CH-47Fs from Boeing.
Bombardier Inc. predicts the market for business jets will be slow to recover because the near-term outlook for corporate profits, while improving, remains weak. There has long been a strong correlation between the two, and for that reason the world's largest business aircraft manufacturer is taking a conservative approach to planning its production and delivery rates. The company doesn't want any unpleasant surprises, or to find itself saddled with excess parts or undeliverable aircraft.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which is scheduled to rejuvenate its long-haul fleet in the next three years, decided to order eight Boeing 777-200ERs and three extended-range 747-400ERF freighters to replace 12 aging 747-300s. According to a newly completed fleet plan, KLM later plans to order a combination of additional 777s and Airbus A330-200s to replace 10 MD-11s and 12 767-300ERs, a carrier official said.
Newly streamlined Air Lib this week is scheduled to inaugurate low-fare services on France's key domestic city-pairs such as nine daily round trips between Paris and Toulouse. At 29-119 euros ($25-104), Air Lib's one-way fares for the 1 hr. 15 min. flights are significantly cheaper than the best prices charged by Air France and the TGV high-speed train. Similarly, Buzz, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines' U.K.-based low-cost affiliate, has entered an agreement with Voyages Carrefour to market flights at minimum fares between French provincial airports and London.
The vexed issue of how to bridge the gap between political ambition and fiscal reality remains stark for Galileo, in spite of last week's progress. In stitching together a patchwork political agreement, the European Union has identified the so-far-vague concept of a public-private sector partnership as the route to securing the necessary total financing.
Matcom International Corp. has re-ceived a five-year FAA contract for lightning protection and bonding upgrades at up to 750 sites throughout the U.S. in support of the Air Traffic Control Beacon Interrogator-6 program.
Ten months of trade studies has steered NASA's $4.8-billion Space Launch Initiative (SLI) away from an all-cryogenic next-generation reusable space launch vehicle toward a smaller vehicle that uses hydrocarbon fuel in its first stage and liquid hydrogen in its second.
The Bush Administration is embarking on a reassessment of U.S./Chinese space cooperation just as China has launched the third unmanned flight test of its Shenzhou manned vehicle to carry the first Chinese astronauts into space over the next 1-2 years.
Curtis Hill has been appointed general manager of Woodland (Calif.) Aviation Inc. He was director of operations and customer service for Northwest Airlines' Cargo Div.
In the wake of UAL Corp.'s decision to abandon business aviation, Dassault Aviation is scheduled to reduce the Falcon business jets' production rate to five aircraft per month, down from seven. Avolar, UAL's newly formed business aviation unit set to establish fractional ownership programs, last year had ordered 46 Falcon 2000EXs and Falcon 900EXs and optioned 56 more aircraft.
The outlook for the world's airlines, while improving, is still clouded with uncertainty, a condition shared by the carriers serving Latin America. The 2001 downturn, accelerated after Sept. 11, has deepened the airline crisis on the southern continent of the Americas, resulting in the loss of familiar airline names.
