Netherlands-based Transavia Airlines has ordered four Boeing 737-700 airplanes, all of which are to be delivered by the spring of next year. The aircraft will be powered by CFM56-7 engines and replace 737-300s in the airline's fleet.
A U.S. Navy pilot, his canopy shattered by a flailing refueling hose, was forced to fly an hour in freezing temperatures to an emergency landing in Pakistan. In the pilot's words, ``20,000 ft. over Afghanistan in an open air [F/A-18] cabriolet is just a bad, bad place.''
Olympic Airways will not be privatized soon, as planned. Integrated Airline Solutions, a Greek-Australian group, last week failed to provide financial guarantees required by the government to become the flag carrier's majority shareholder. In the absence of other workable offerings, Olympic's management is expected to further streamline the company, abandon more unprofitable routes and cut jobs in a wide-ranging effort to become a more attractive investment. Privatizing a debt-laden carrier in the post-Sept.
Qantas posted an after-tax profit of A$153.5 million (U.S.$80.8 million) for the first half of fiscal 2001 (through Dec. 31). This represents a 41.6% decline from the first half of fiscal 2000. Total revenue increased 11.1% to A$5.7 billion, but expenditures were up 16% to A$5.4 billion. That increase was attributed to wet-leased aircraft and higher fuel and engineering costs. Fuel costs jumped 34.3%. CEO Geoff Dixon said the underlying fuel price was lower than last year, giving Qantas an advantage valued at A$130 million.
Al Qaeda terrorist cells in Singapore and a U.S. president touring Asia to warn about security should be enough to put military issues at the top of the agenda when the aerospace industry gathers in Singapore this week for Asian Aerospace 2002.
Embraer 170 prototype No. 0001, PT-XJE, performed ``better than was foreseen'' on its 2-hr. 30-min. first flight last week, according to test pilots Jose Carlos Rodrigues and Eduardo Camelier and fight test engineer Gilberto Cardoso. The aircraft was operated from Sao Jose dos Campos (Brazil) airport in slightly overcast conditions. According to Embraer, low- and high-speed taxi tests were successfully completed before the maiden flight of Embraer's first jet in the 70-108-seat category.
After years of marking time as Asia suffered through economic turmoil, U.S. and European aerospace industry representatives believe they now stand to cash in as several military modernization programs reach maturity.
Vought Aircraft Industries has been selected by Boeing to help develop aerostructures manufacturing technologies for the proposed Sonic Cruiser program. Vought already builds large airframe structures for Boeing as well as composite structures for the V-22 tiltrotor and C-17 transport.
Uses for clear, flexible tubing have been limited due to chemical attack from the fluid being transported. This product, Tygon 2075 chemical resistant tubing, is unaffected by acids, bases, ketones, salts and alcohols, according to the company. The tubing is free of plasticizers, eliminating concern of fluid contamination resulting from leaching plasticizers. The tubing will not embrittle or crack prematurely due to the extraction of plasticizer. Tygon 2075 tubing is manufactured with a smooth surface to inhibit particulate build-up on the tubing wall.
To cope with falling demand for European and transpacific service, Japanese carriers are expanding routes into Asia. To do so, they are taking advantage of the opening of a second runway in April at Tokyo's Narita airport. China is the favored destination. Japan Airlines has added thrice-weekly services to Xiamen, a coastal city that is China's busiest aircraft repair center. In August, JAL will double its services to Beijing and Shanghai to 14 per week. Japan Air System is adding flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong, as well.
Rockwell Collins Aviation Services has signed a five-year Dispatch 100SM contract with Delta Air Lines' Atlanta-based subsidiary, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, for service and support of ASA's Canadair Regional Jets.
With the U.S. Air Force's decision to begin buying some of the new turboprop-powered Predator B unmanned reconnaissance and strike aircraft (which offer larger payloads and higher operating altitudes), the services will have to find higher performance missiles to arm them.
An Israeli company believes it can help the new U.S. Transportation Security Administration deal with long lines of frustrated passengers inching through airport security screening checkpoints.
Richard A. Clarke, the Bush Administration's cyber security czar, said last week at a computer security conference in San Jose, Calif., that it's only a matter of time before terrorists launch a large-scale cyberspace attack on critical infrastructure in the U.S. such as the electric power grid or the air traffic control system. According to the Associated Press, Clarke said just as airlines knew of their security weaknesses prior to Sept.
Goodrich Corp. executive Marshall O. Larsen, 53, last week was named president and chief operating officer, putting him in line to succeed Chairman and CEO David L. Burner, who is expected to retire in 2004. He also will be a nominee for the corporation's board of directors. Larsen joined Goodrich in 1977 and was instrumental in helping to transform the company into predominantly a tier-one aerospace supplier, from a conglomerate with interests in a variety of industries.
L-3 Communications' Interstate Electronics Corp.'s (IEC) division has won a three-year, $6-million contract to support the ground-based midcourse defense segment by the U.S. Army Strategic Missile Defense Command. IEC will supply 30 digital GPS translators and two translator processors, along with engineering, logistics and field launch support. The contract includes options for two, one-year extensions that would bring the total potential value to approximately $9 million.
Boeing plans to cut the combined employment level at its Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS) and Boeing Electronic Dynamic Devices operations in Southern California by about 11%. BSS in El Segundo and Torrance-based Electronic Dynamic Devices, a subsidiary of BSS, now have a combined employment of more than 9,000 persons, but the company plans to reduce the number in El Segundo by 900 positions and another 150 jobs in Torrance.
A wide range of software takes mechanical things from design to production, but the same linked set of tools is rare for electrical harnesses. Mentor Graphics, a British company that makes design and manufacturing software for electronic products such as integrated circuits, aims to change that with a Capital Harness set of integrated tools that is being introduced this week. Most existing harness software has been developed in-house by users like Boeing, and goes back a long way to Fortran-style roots.
Designed for use in manufacturing and MRO operations configured as work-cells, these bi-directional shelves have a 2,000-lb. capacity. When the work is completed it is put on the roll-out shelf and moved to the aisle side where it can be retrieved. It is also used for issuing large tooling, which is placed on the shelf from the tool room side and rolled to the aisle side for retrieval. Normally, units will have lockable doors on the aisle side. These units can also be used between machining areas, which allow common tooling to be shared by two areas.
Capt. John Sluys has been reelected to a second term as chairman of the Alaska Airlines Master Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Assn. Other officers are: Capt. Rich Madden, vice chairman; and Capt. Paul Emmert, secretary-treasurer.
Evans&Sutherland and SimAuthor are teaming to bring their visualization software together for aviation safety and training programs. E&S produces detailed, FAA-certified airport databases that are used to create the highly realistic visual images in full-flight simulators. SimAuthor specializes in real-time, interactive, graphical depictions of actual flight or simulator data for replay on standard PCs.
``Space Control,'' the ability to protect one's own space assets while denying an adversary the use of in-orbit resources, is ``still at idle. It's time to move that up,'' Gen. Ralph E. Eberhart, commander-in-chief of U.S. Space Command (Cincspace), told attendees of the ``SpaceComm 2002'' conference in Colorado Springs last week. His analogy to aircraft throttle position underscored a concern that U.S. military, civil and commercial satellites are still vulnerable to attack or disruption of service. That deficiency must be rectified sooner rather than later.
Rolls-Royce has signed a $250-million, 15-year contract with Air Canada covering maintenance on the Trent 772B engines that power the airline's eight Airbus A330-300s. The Trent also will power the A340-500/600, of which Air Canada has up to 15 on order.
Tokyo's Narita airport is proposing an 8.3% increase in landing fees and, predictably, the International Air Transport Assn. is up in arms about it. IATA says Narita is already the world's most expensive airport. In the midst of an airline recession, it's time for the airport to follow the example of Hong Kong International Airport and Singapore's Changi Airport and cut fares. HKIA dropped its 15% and Changi 10%. Narita has reduced rental charges, but IATA is after landing and aircraft parking charges.
