Germania, a small German charter operator, is attempting to acquire Deutsche BA, British Airways' German affiliate. Deutsche BA, which operates 18 Boeing 737-300s, has constantly made losses since it was set up 10 years ago in a British Airways initiative to gain access to Germany's robust domestic market. Germania was established in 1978, operates five Boeing 737-700s and is being gradually transformed into a scheduled airline.
With virtually all airline stocks trading well below book value, last week's crash of American Airlines Flight 587 was the last thing the industry needed as it struggles to regain investor confidence.
One National Air and Space Museum Trophy (for recent achievement) goes to the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory's mission team for the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft--the first to orbit and land on an asteroid. Another trophy (for lifetime achievement) goes to former Sen. John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. Talking about his return to space at age 77 as the oldest payload specialist, Glenn quipped at the awards dinner: ``It's not true that NASA wouldn't let me go on a space walk for fear I'd wander off.
SkyX Gateway Version 3.0 was written to address the limitations of Internet protocols when used over satellite networks. By transparently replacing TCP with a new protocol designed for long latency, asymmetric bandwidth, as well as high loss conditions typical of satellite networks, the SkyX Gateway can provide terrestrial-like performance over satellite links, according to the company. It provides loss-less compression ratios of up to 5:1, and is available in two models: the XR10 and XH45.
George Saling of Philip Morris Management Corp. has been elected to a two-year term as chairman of the Washington-based National Business Aircraft Assn. Jack Olcott was re-elected president and Lise Margin corporate secretary. Also elected were: vice chairman, Donald Baldwin of Coca Cola; and treasurer, Kenneth Emerick of GM Worldwide Travel Services.
Whatever the future holds for Canada's struggling commercial air transport industry, it won't include the country's second largest airline, Canada 3000. It's no longer in business. The carrier abruptly ceased operations on Nov. 9 after frantic attempts to secure government funding before it ran out of money. With no advance notice, thousands of ticketed passengers were left in the lurch in yet another case of airline customers being forced to fend for themselves.
The investment banking firm of UBS Warburg last week increased its estimate of the U.S. airline industry's net loss, to $6.4 billion from $5.4 billion, for 2001. Revenues estimates for the fourth quarter also were revised downward, to 32% below the same period a year ago, versus an earlier forecast of 27%. The more pessimistic predictions are based on slower revenue recovery and modest impact of the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 last week.
This proportional gas mixer brochure features standard two-gas 180 SCFH models, high-capacity two-gas 700 SCFH models, and standard three-gas 180 SCFH models. The mixers provide welding/purging with a variety of gases in industry as well as in lab environments. The hardware is used for tungsten arc and metal arc welding, providing gas mixtures for plasma cutting machines and controlling the atmosphere in heat treat ovens. The mixers are dome-loaded to eliminate the need for an external power source. Smith Equipment, 2601 Lockheed Ave., Watertown, S.D. 57201.
Even with a steep drop in its financial performance, Lufthansa German Airlines still hopes to avoid posting operating losses on the condition it can quickly implement cost-cutting measures. The carrier does not anticipate reversing the current negative trend--as far as passenger numbers and traffic are concerned--any time soon and sees its problems continuing well into next year.
The Bush Administration puts a positive spin on the Bush-Putin summit, which produced an agreement to cut strategic nuclear stockpiles but nada on missile defenses. They argue that U.S.-Russian relations have fundamentally changed and, so, they are not particularly concerned about not wrapping everything up in one pretty package. The two presidents issued a sheaf of statements, signaling agreements on an array of economic and security issues. Bush promised to draw down to 2,200-1,700 operational warheads, and Putin promised similar cuts. Speculation had been that U.S.
Edward A. Bruciati, Jr., (see photos) has been promoted to director of sales for North America from Atlantic regional director for the Lee Co., Westbrook, Conn. Bruciati succeeds Arthur Nadel, who has been named California-based director of sales for South America and Asia.
European research ministers approved nearly $7 billion for new launcher, telecom, navigation and other space programs for 2002-06, but deferred disbursement of funds for International Space Station utilization until next year. Although the sums approved for individual programs were below the 10 billion euros ($9 billion) proposed, German Research Minister Edelgard Bulmahn, who chaired the summit, nonetheless termed it ``a full success'' (AW&ST Nov. 12, p. 30).
The FAA had an ``embarrassing'' number of only 38 sky marshals at the time of the Sept. 11 hijackings, according to a federal law enforcement officer commenting anonymously on the agency's new aircraft operator rules. The rulemaking addresses terrorism but was issued before Sept. 11. In an FAA docket filing, the officer said the FAA ``has a lot of nerve,'' tightening restrictions on federal officers flying armed even as it borrows officers from more than 30 federal agencies to pack heat until it can recruit and train its own personnel.
Major U.S. airlines that operate international service have worked out an agreement among themselves intended to pave the way for temporary suspension of Transportation Dept. dormancy rules, accommodating post-Sept. 11 service cutbacks. Under dormancy, an airline that has won authority for international routes or frequencies loses that authority if it fails to use it throughout a 90-day period. The authority reverts to the Transportation Dept., which reallocates it.
The company has upgraded and expanded its M81714 Series II high-density avionic terminal junction module family through the addition of lightweight composite mounting tracks. The track, fabricated of glass-filled polyetherimide, combines strength, light weight, chemical resistance and dimensional stability, says PCD. It is available in sizes 2-12 standard mounting positions, and is form, fit and function interchangeable with existing aluminum track.
While most carriers are considering delivery delays or cancellations of aircraft orders following the terrorist attacks, the Civil Aviation Administration of China is expected to announce two orders totaling 65 new aircraft. Officials familiar with the negotiations anticipate that 45 aircraft will be bought from Airbus and 20 from Embraer. On Oct. 2, Boeing won an order for 30 737-700/800s that were spread among China Southern, China Eastern, Hainan Airlines and Shanghai Airlines.
The new age of terror, combined with an economic recession, has forced the world airline industry to restructure for survival. Air carriers are developing strategies for the long haul even though the outlook is clouded with uncertainty. The recession will end and terrorism could be defeated but the financial and policy implications of this new age will rattle industry for years and no doubt will reshape the airline business.
The United Kingdom has put elements of its Joint Rapid Reaction Force and associated aircraft on short notice for deployment to Afghanistan, in support of U.N. and humanitarian operations in the next phase of the war.
L-3 Communications formed a new business unit combining three of its San Diego-based telemetry divisions--Conic, Telemetry&Instrumentation and Southern California Microwave--into a single company: Telemetry-West. It will serve commercial, military and civilian telemetry, test and data acquisition customers worldwide. Combining the operations is expected to dramatically improve operating efficiencies. Burt Smith, formerly chief operating officer of L-3's Ocean Systems Div., will head the unit.
Eldec claims development of the first flap skew detection system for a regional jet using non-contacting proximity sensing technology. The system is used to monitor the flap actuation system and provides an indication and control output before the occurrence of a flap skew condition. Proximity-sensing technology offers some reliability advantages over solutions such as RVDTs and resolvers, the company said. Non-contacting sensing simplifies the installation and permits simple retrofit of the system onto existing aircraft.
Bradley W. Spahr (see photo) has become president of Ducommun Aerostructures, Gardena, Calif. He was president of Composite Structures, which was purchased by Ducommun and merged into Ducommun Aerostructures.
