Bailout funding of SF450 million ($280 million) provided late last week by the Swiss government helped the country's flag carrier, Swissair, to gradually resume operations while readying a vast restructuring. In the midst of an acrimonious dispute with banks Credit Suisse (CS) and Union de Banques Suisses (UBS) as well as fuel providers, cash-strapped Swissair's fleet was grounded on Oct. 2, and the ailing group filed for bankruptcy 24 hr. later.
Russia has been counting on commercialization to pay its fare on the International Space Station, but its space industry is already rethinking those plans less than two months after they were set in a redesign of the Russian side of the ISS. The Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center doesn't think its partner Boeing will be able to sell facilities on the planned FGB-2 module as a purely commercial proposition, and so is holding talks this week with the European Space Agency and Astrium about a government sale of FGB-2 facilities to ESA.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is scheduled to slash available seat/kilometers by as much as 15% on Oct. 28. For example, KLM and Northwest Airlines will jointly suspend 25 weekly code-share transatlantic flights. The Dutch carrier will cut approximately 2,500 jobs, and as many as 12,000 employees based in the Netherlands will be asked to work shorter times. In the U.K., British Midland plans to reduce its capacity on short-haul routes by an average 20% and to cut 600 jobs.
Raytheon Aircraft Co. began laying off 750 hourly and salaried workers last week as part of further cost-cutting initiatives at the Wichita-based airframe manufacturer. The layoffs are in response to a business downturn stemming from the terrorist attacks and a weak economy. Earlier this year, Raytheon laid off 920 workers. The company has a backlog of more than $4 billion for its Premier I and Hawker Horizon business jets.
A new Business Aviation Task Force at the National Air Transportation Assn. (NATA) is recommending a series of security guidelines for general aviation businesses, such as fixed-base operators, charters, maintenance and flight schools, aimed at preventing a hijacking at these facilities.
The Sukhoi design bureau appears to have an early advantage in Russia's fifth-generation fighter competition, with government officials indicating they may prefer the program reside with the well-established developer of the Su-27 and Su-30.
Directors of Newport News Shipbuilding were scheduled to meet late last week to reconsider competing bids from Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics for the shipbuilding concern in light of Northrop Grumman's rising stock price. Since Sept. 11, it grew by more than 31%, closing at 107.52 on Oct. 3. General Dynamics' stock price rose by more than 18% (closing midweek at 89.83) during the same period.
Attacks on widely dispersed Al Qaeda facilities could begin within a week and hit targets in as many as four countries. First will be small, pinpoint air and ground strikes. Defense officials say these first steps will be ``elegant'' in concept. ``About half will be visible, and half will be covert,'' one official says. Planners anticipate the raids will have a ``profound effect'' on the direction and scope of the long-term war on terrorism. Meanwhile, troops headed for Exercise Bright Star set to begin in Egypt Oct. 8 are being told not to expect to come home on Nov.
Iraq's biological weapons program, including anthrax, now presents the greatest regional threat. It includes experiments in ``agricultural warfare,'' such as wheat smut, national security analysts warn. If Baghdad's military resurgence continues unchecked, it could touch off a nuclear, chemical and biological arms race between Iraq and Iran, possibly embroiling other countries in the Persian Gulf area.
A headline in the Oct. 1 issue incorrectly stated that the launch failure of a Taurus rocket sent Orbital Imaging Corp. into debt restructuring (see p. 44). As the text of the story correctly states, the restructuring was unrelated to the launch failure.
Acting Massachusetts Gov. Jane M. Swift, in a televised address to the state outlining safety reforms, last week demoted Massport Public Safety Director Joseph Lawless and appointed former State Police head, Col. John DiFava as interim chief. Massport security has come under intense scrutiny by investigators trying to determine how hijackers were able to board American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 that departed Boston Logan International 15 min. apart on the morning of Sept. 11.
Reagan Washington National Airport came back to life last week under a White House-approved plan that will allow airport officials to ramp up operations to 24% of pre-Sept. 11 levels by Nov. 1 while putting in place what the FAA is calling the most ``exacting'' security measures in the nation. ``We can assure the American public as best we can, that we're taking the necessary safety precautions,'' President Bush said when announcing the opening Oct. 2. ``Now it's time to start flying again.''
When you go on life support, your every twitch, flutter and sharp intake of breath gets monitored very closely. That's what's happening to U.S. airlines.
Plans to accelerate Global Hawk unmanned aircraft fielding are hitting a major roadblock. The House Intelligence committee wants to strip the entire $33.5 million in long-lead money for additional Block 5 aircraft from the budget.
Australia plans to enhance its military's counterterrorist and incident response capabilities. The goal is to double the special forces counterterrorist means and reestablish the highly specialized Incident Response Unit that existed during the Sydney Olympics to respond to a weapons-of-mass-destruction attack.
The U.S. Air Force and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) were poised late last week for the launch of an advanced version of the KH-11 imaging reconnaissance satellite that will be used to aid U.S.-allied military operations in Afghanistan, as well as keep watch on other key intelligence targets, including China. The 30,000-lb. spacecraft is to become one of nearly 50 U.S. and European military eavesdropping, communications, navigation, weather and surveillance spacecraft now beginning to support military operations against terrorist-related forces.
Saying the threat of terrorists commandeering the cockpit outweighs traditional concerns for pilot safety, the FAA has allowed airlines to begin installing makeshift bolts on cockpit doors while manufacturers look for more permanent solutions.
Securing hundreds of doors that lead to aircraft ramps has been a challenge for aviation but especially for Chicago O'Hare International, one of the world's busiest airports. The city's Aviation Dept. has been testing a fingerprint-recognition technology for a building-access-control system at O'Hare since last May. In the next few weeks, the new technology will be installed at 1,100 doors at O'Hare and Midway airports. SecuGen Corp. of Milpitas, Calif., developed the technology, which uses smart-card fingerprint-verification readers.
Strangers walking onto Bob Bunting's cornfield airstrip on Maryland's Eastern Shore face a security screen arguably equal to or better than any state-of-the-art weapons detection systems at a major U.S. airport--Bunting's need to know why the hell you're on his property. And his scrutiny of would-be guests becomes particularly intense when the topic turns to the large, dirty yellow Grumman Ag-Cat parked behind the barn.
Active duty Air Force and Air National Guard fighter units flying airspace-protection missions over the U.S. are handling the increased workload well, but refueling tankers and AWACS resources are stretched thin after three weeks of intense operations.
Russia is pushing a high-speed, Mach 2.6 antiship missile system designed to be fired beyond line-of-sight to the target, leaving the attacked vessel little time to defend itself. NPO Mashinostroyenia intends to exploit its somewhat odd mix of missiles, satellites and launchers by drawing on all three product lines to create a long-range strike system.
Boeing has received some relief from the dramatic downturn in the commercial transport market with a long-awaited order from China for 30 737 transports. In making the announcement last week in Washington, Boeing said the order was in addition to another order from China earlier in the year for 10 aircraft, which previously had been listed as an acquisition by ``unidentified'' customers.
NASA is pondering privatization of the space shuttle as a way to loosen the tightening budget noose. Under the closely held plan, United Space Alliance (USA), the Boeing/Lockheed Martin joint venture that already handles most day-to-day shuttle operations under contract, would wind up effectively owning the shuttle fleet and operating it for profit. Astronauts and most other shuttle workers would get their paychecks from USA, and NASA would pay the joint venture for flights to the international space station and elsewhere.
India's former aviation and tourism minister, Madhav Rao Scindia, 56, and seven others were killed Sept. 30 when their 10-seat Cessna C-90 crashed on a flight from Delhi to Kanpur. The aircraft apparently suffered a midair engine fire. The flight took place in heavy rain and poor visibility, authorities said. The crash is prompting renewed calls for tougher oversight of general aviation aircraft. Scindia, an Oxford graduate and member of a former royal family, had often been viewed as an heir to Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of slain prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Rep. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) introduced the General Aviation Small Business Act in the House of Representatives last week. The bill is aimed at providing financial relief to businesses such as flight schools, fixed-base operations and helicopter operators, some of which are facing possible bankruptcy. The Pennsylvania Republican's measure would authorize the Small Business Administration to issue grants to operators that have incurred major losses stemming from the federal government's restrictions on airspace and flying since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
