Poland's fighter acquisition odyssey shows little sign of coming to an end: the latest twist in the saga, its move to cut an initial purchase of 16 secondhand aircraft from any deal. It is also looking to increase the number of, now all new, aircraft to be purchased to 48 from 44. The competition is fast becoming a test of stamina for those European and U.S. manufacturers contesting the requirement.
The signing last week of a tripartite shareholder agreement by Siemens Project Ventures GmbH. of Germany, Unique Airport of Switzerland and Larsen&Toubro of Mumbai has set the stage for a long-awaited new airport for Bangalore. The partners will hold a 74% stake in the $230-million Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli, located about 19 mi. from India's Silicon Valley region. The remaining 26% of the shares will be split evenly between a development arm of the Karnataka state government and Airports Authority of India.
Antonio Rodota, director general of the European space agency, has received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, in recognition of his advocacy of transatlantic cooperation with the U.S. space agency. He was cited for ``assuming a major leadership role in the development and operation of the International Space Station,'' furthering ``international civil space activities through support of the broad panoply of European Space Agency programs'' and producing ``ESA contributions to the advancement of knowledge in space and Earth sciences.''
Top level Russian and Indian officials met in New Delhi, Feb. 6-8, to discuss a swath of defense aerospace collaborative programs, potentially including Indian involvement in a Russian fifth-generation fighter effort. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov led the high-level delegation. Also on India's shopping list is the Admiral Gorshkov, to be modified as a conventional aircaft carrier, the associated MiG-29K carrier-borne variant of the Fulcrum, as well as the Tu-22M3 Backfire bomber, and a long-range surface-to-air missile system.
Nothing crystallized more the plight of the traditional flag carrier and the seeming, inexorable rise of the low-cost startup airlines than the startling contrast between British Airways and Ryanair's third-quarter results. BA, battered by the effects of Sept. 11 and the drop-off in traffic volume, on Feb. 4 posted a pretax loss of 160 million pounds ($228.8 million) for the third quarter ending Dec. 31, 2001. For the same period budget-carrier Ryanair, on Feb. 5, reported profits up by 35% to 28.8 million euros ($25.3 million).
Air Canada posted a net loss of US$783 million, or $6.53 a share, for 2001, compared with a net loss of US$51.3 million, or 43 cents a share, in the prior year. On an operating basis, the loss amounted to $731 million, versus operating income of US$52 million in 2000. The net loss in the fourth quarter, ended Dec. 31, was US$238 million, or $3.16 a share.
Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has received applications from 10 new carriers seeking takeoff and landing slots at Tokyo's Narita airport, including four from China and two from Taiwan. All of the applications are expected to be approved. The allocations have been made possible by the planned opening of a second runway on Apr. 18 at Narita, Japan's most important international gateway.
EADS' revenues in 2001 increased 23% to $26.7 billion in revenues, including $17.7 billion for 80% of Airbus' sales. The cross-border company secured orders valued at $52.2 billion and backlog raised to $159.4 billion. c
NASA is planning management retreats to kick around ideas about unifying goals for the civil space program. Agency science guru Ed Weiler said, ``You don't go places anymore just to put flags and footprints down.'' Fixing the International Space Station program is Job One for Administrator Sean O'Keefe, but he only has two years to do it (see p. 34). After that Weiler thinks NASA should look for evidence of extraterrestrial life. To make his point, he imagines two paragraphs devoted to the 21st century in a history of humankind written 100,000 years hence.
Sikorsky's No. 3 S-92 is scheduled to return to flight test status this month after receiving rotor and tail modifications that will bring it into line with planned production versions of the transport/utility helicopter. The Nos. 4 and 5 S-92 prototypes have been flying with redesigned tails that reflect production aircraft aerodynamics, but the structural configurations of these assemblies differ from those planned for serial production.
Speeding up clearance of low-risk people and devoting limited screening resources to higher risks are central to the Homeland Security office's strategy at U.S. borders and should be applied at airports as well, according to a senior Administration official. In a U.S.-Canada pilot program, volunteers who cross the border routinely have been pre-screened and issued a photo ID. When they want to cross the border, they are waved through after an automated verification of their ID.
Computer Sciences Corp. plans to establish a software-development facility as well as a remote operations support center in downtown Montreal. It will occupy 50,000 sq. ft. in the second phase of E-Commerce Place, which was designed to attract information technology companies. Nearly 500 new jobs will be created. The provincial government's Investissement Quebec has played a key role in greatly expanding the number of non-Canadian aerospace companies doing business in Quebec.
Tokyo's Narita airport saw its Japanese passenger traffic fall 10% last year, the worst slide since it opened in 1978. The airport handled 22.2 million passengers, including 16.4 million Japanese. Foreign passenger counts dropped 1%. The slide began after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and hit peaks in October and November when more than 40% fewer people flew. International cargo shipments fell 14% to 1.6 million metric tons.
Orbital Sciences Corp. and the NASA space science program scored a significant Pegasus mission success here last week, while the Kennedy center itself was given a major new role for long-term modification and maintenance of space shuttle orbiters. Both the $85-million Pegasus mission and orbiter modification decisions were time-critical, coming after substantial delays.
North Korea has tested rocket engines believed to be associated with the Taepo-Dong 2 intercontinental missile, reports the South Korea Times citing local military officials. North Korea has said it would hold off flight testing the missile, but continued its engine and other component development, U.S. intelligence officials note.
Despite the huge boost the Bush Administration seeks with its defense budget, the Pentagon can document only small progress on its modernization themes of transformation, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, space and missile defense. Absent in the $379.3-billion Fiscal 2003 budget request for defense that went to Congress last week--or $396.1 billion when Energy Dept. and other costs are added--are major initiatives such as funding for a new Air Force tanker that has attracted a lot of attention.
United Airlines Chairman and CEO Jack Creighton last week commended the cockpit crew of Flight 855 for taking ``quick action in forcefully and immediately'' thwarting a passenger's attempt to enter the cockpit.
Irwin Price (see photo) has been appointed chancellor of the Daytona Beach, Fla., campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He has been chief operating officer of the residential campus there and was an executive dean at George Washington University. Price succeeds Thomas J. Connolly, who has taken a sabbatical to be visiting international professor of aviation psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand.
New York's LaGuardia Airport stinks. So say local residents, who fear the fumes and noise of jet aircraft, along with toxins from nearby power plants and cars on heavily trafficked roadways, pose serious health threats. As a result, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is to launch a study this spring on the effects of noise and air pollution on people living within a 5-mi. radius of the airport. It's the first federal study performed in five years, according to U.S. Rep.
International Space Station operations were disrupted for several hours Feb. 4 when two of three navigation data streams from a computer in the Russian Zvezda service module failed to maintain navigation data flow to a guidance and control computer on the U.S. side of the station. The malfunction generated erroneous data that caused a loss of U.S. gyro attitude control. This put the ISS in free drift, which had the effect of rolling the solar arrays off the sun and mispointing communications antennas.
The Assn. of Flight Attendants' bid to represent the 19,000 flight attendants at Delta Air Lines failed by a large margin but the union has contested the election, alleging the airline illegally interfered. In the Feb. 1 count, the AFA received 5,520 of the 5,609 ballots cast, which represented only 29% of the total eligible voters. The percentage fell short of the 50%-plus vote required by the National Mediation Board to certify an election. The board is investigating the allegation.
Alan W. Crellin has been appointed executive vice president-operations, K. Nigel Adams vice president-inflight services, Kerry J. Carstairs vice president-customer service centers, John C. Honor vice president-human resources and development, Jennifer C. McGarey vice president/deputy general counsel/secretary and S. Michael Scheeringa vice president-resource planning, all at US Airways. Crellin was senior vice president-customer service, and Adams was a dining and cabin services manager.
Boeing plans to decide what new technology to incorporate in the Sonic Cruiser design by the end of 2003, and set the firm design configuration for the high-speed transport the following year. Any delay in Boeing's launch of the program due to the current airline slump--or even slips in the technology and final configuration decisions--will not necessarily result in postponement of the aircraft's availability date, now set for 2008, according to company officials.
Vietnam Airlines has selected Pratt&Whitney PW4084D engines to power four recently ordered Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, in a contract valued at up to $145 million. Thales Air Traffic Management will supply a taxi control system/cooperative area precision tracking system for Fraport, Frankfurt's airport operator. Messier-Bugatti will equip up to 75 Airbus A320-series twinjets with wheels and carbon brakes for Brazilian airline TAM.
FLS Aerospace's largest shareholder, Potagua, intends to sell its 40% stake in the MRO provider. FLS chairman Ib Christensen resigned following the Potagua announcement.
