Indian Airlines asked the government for permission to add three international routes to its network--Kabul, Hong Kong and Dubai. Choice of frequency, aircraft type and service launch dates would be made if the approval is obtained. The carrier's wet-lease of two Airbus A320s would allow it to offer new services from Delhi to the three destinations. In addition, the airline has been granted permission to provide charters during the hajj from Hyderabad and Srinagar to Jeddah this year.
Ivory E. Tucker has been named vice president of the Norwalk, Conn.-based Norden Systems unit of the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Systems Sector (ESS). He was director of major subcontract management and administration for ESS in Baltimore. Tucker succeeds D. Wayne Snodgrass, who is now vice president-engineering and manufacturing for ESS. William Mitchell has been named vice president/assistant general counsel/sector counsel for Newport News (Va.) operations for Northrop Grumman. He was associate sector counsel for ESS.
Delta Air Transport, a regional subsidiary of bankrupt Sabena Belgian World Airlines, and Richard Branson's Brussels-based Virgin Express tentatively plan to conclude a merger agreement in the next few weeks. The two carriers would be combined into a unified company and focus on European city-pairs. In the shorter term, they will operate routes under code-sharing arrangements.
The FAA should start regulating airspace of a different kind--cabin air on commercial transports. So says a panel convened by the National Research Council. According to ``The Airliner Cabin Environment and Health of Passengers and Crew,'' the FAA should conduct extensive scientific tests to identify harmful contaminants and their potential risk to passengers and crew. The agency also should establish an air quality monitoring system, as well as review and update current regulations as necessary to protect the public health.
American Airlines and Washington lawyers for an Arab-American Secret Service agent barred from a Dec. 25 American flight from Baltimore to Dallas sparred last week on whether the agent or the pilot was at fault.
Boeing delivered 527 commercial transports during 2001, five more than company officials had predicted in their latest revision of delivery estimates following the events of Sept. 11, 2001. A total of 144 commercial aircraft were delivered by Boeing during the fourth quarter of last year, including 85 Next-Generation 737s, 16 777s and 13 757s. Prior to the terrorist attacks, Boeing had been projecting delivery of 538 commercial transports for all of 2001.
Airport security concerns are growing in the wake of an attempt by a passenger to bomb an American Airlines Boeing 767 operating from Paris to Miami. The continuing investigation is expected to conclude that conventional passenger screening systems, primarily designed to detect metallic objects, no longer cover the complete spectrum of risks.
A two-year-old startup space launch company in Seattle, drawing on experience gained with Kistler Aerospace, Lockheed Martin's VentureStar and Boeing, has turned the tables on the traditional ``if you build it, they will come'' approach to reusable launch vehicle (RLV) development.
Herley Industries has received a $1-million contract to supply high-power radio-frequency control products for the U.S. Navy's E-2C Hawkeye aircraft, in conjunction with a $1.3-billion multi-year contract between the Navy and Northrop Grumman to purchase 21 Hawkeyes.
All Nippon Airways has filed a complaint with Japan's Fair Trade Commission stating that the consolidation of Japan Airlines and Japan Air System would be anticompetitive (AW&ST Nov. 19, 2001, p. 44). ANA officials said the merger is contrary to the government's policy of promoting airline deregulation and competition. The complaint maintains that the combined airlines would control 60% of routes from Tokyo's Haneda Airport and 80% of Japanese carriers' international routes.
Tentative approval of antitrust immunity for the Delta Air Lines-Air France-Alitalia-Czech Airlines alliance, granted Dec. 21 by the U.S. Transportation Dept., shows by its simplicity how complicated the department's upcoming decision on the American Airlines-British Airways immunity proposal will be.
SITA has signed a contract with the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers to establish and manage ``aero'' as an Internet top level domain dedicated to the aviation community. Registration of names is to begin in March. Details are available at www.aero.sita.int or www.information.aero. Domain names are to be reserved for companies, organizations, associations, government agencies and persons involved in passenger and cargo transport. SITA said it will manage the site on a nonprofit basis.
Raytheon Aircraft Co. has received an order for more than 230 T-6A Texan II training aircraft in a multiyear contract that could be worth up to $1.2 billion during the next five years. A company official said the initial agreement calls for 40 airplanes with deliveries set to begin in 2004. The contract includes four one-year options and funding for ground-based training equipment and tech support.
James Howell, corporate chief engineer of EMS Technologies Inc. of Atlanta, has been selected as a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He was selected for his ``contributions to the design and analysis of radar systems.''
Carolyn Williamson has become executive director of the University Aviation Assn., Auburn, Ala. She succeeds Gary W. Kiteley. Williamson was vice president of Women in Aviation International and managing editor of its magazine Aviation for Women.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is assessing safety benefits of independent standby systems on MD-11s that would serve as a ``get-home package'' in the event of aircraft electrical failure. The move comes out of the safety board's ongoing probe of Swissair Flight 111, an MD-11 that crashed Sept. 2, 1998, near Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia. The aircraft experienced an inflight fire while en route from New York JFK to Geneva.
Satellite images of a facility near Baghdad show an airliner that Iraqi defectors say is used to train terrorists in the art of hijacking. Space Imaging, which operates the Ikonos civilian surveillance satellite, was prompted to look for the aircraft in existing photos after a ``Frontline'' television show interviewed two Iraqi defectors who described the hijacker training and the aircraft used for the mock attacks.
New NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe wins kudos across the board for picking a respected veteran astronaut as his deputy. Insiders say Marine Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden, Jr.'s, deep experience at the space agency, including four shuttle flights and a headquarters stint, will complement O'Keefe's White House credentials as they struggle to keep the agency's nose up in a tough fiscal environment. Soon after moving into his new offices on Jan. 2, O'Keefe promised NASA employees ``a lot of hard work and some difficult decisions'' in the months ahead.
Freedom Airlines, an Irving, Tex.-based subsidiary of Mesa Air Group, has applied to the Transportation Dept. for a certificate to operate 64-seat Bombardier CRJ700 and 80-seat CRJ900 transports in scheduled service for America West Airlines beginning in May. Mesa Air Group already is the parent company of Mesa Airlines, Air Midwest and CCAir, but Freedom would be the only unit to fly the larger regional jets. Operating as America West Express, routes and schedules would be determined by the mainline carrier and exist chiefly in the western U.S.
Lockheed Martin's Palmdale, Calif., facility stands to get work overflowing from other company sites and from potential contracts for its Advanced Development Programs unit. There is a possibility of specialized parts production work coming in from the Joint Strike Fighter program and from ongoing production for the F-16 in Fort Worth. The Palmdale site is anticipating 200-300 jobs, depending on contract wins for the ADP unit. Many of those programs are classified, but developing unmanned aircraft is expected to be among them.
Joseph Adams, Jr., has been appointed executive director of the U.S. Air Transportation Stabilization Board. He has been a partner of Brera Capital Partners of New York.
More aircraft flying from Europe to the Caribbean will be able to save time and fuel by using the optimum altitudes for the prevailing winds, now that the FAA has decreased the altitude separation for properly equipped aircraft.
Scott Douglas has become Singapore-based regional vice president for Southeast Asia for the Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems Sector. He succeeds Phil Murphy, who has retired. Douglas was senior regional analyst for Southeast Asia for Cubic Applications.
Sept. 11 has changed the way people think about airport and aviation security, and the threat is expanding interest in systems to detect explosives. This report covers the most promising technologies discussed at a recent FAA symposium, as well as the changing approach to security in the U.S., Canada and Europe. With billions of dollars of spending expected, more companies are entering the field.
