A merger of Air China and China Southern Airlines, the nation's northern and southern kingpins, could spark the long-awaited consolidation of the fragmented Chinese aviation market. At this point, formal negotiations do not appear to be underway, but talk of a merger is being taken seriously within and outside China. The airlines' mid-level managers, especially at the more marketing-savvy China Southern, have been rapidly assembling data as they map strategy to stake out their positions in pending talks.
CONDOR SYSTEMS, THE MINI-CONGLOMERATE WHICH SPECIALIZES in electronic warfare systems and technology, has acquired the EW product line of ARGOSystems from the Boeing Co. Condor Systems, which is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., specializes in signals intelligence (Sigint) and communications intelligence (Comint) systems as did ARGOSystems (AW&ST Sept. 11, 1995, p. 49).
With its integration of TEAM Aer Lingus now well in hand, FLS Aerospace (FLSA) is eying further expansion in Europe and hopes to make an acquisition in the U.S. by year-end.
Military sales have been declining for years in Japan, but aerospace manufacturers report their sales exceeded 1 trillion yen ($8.2 billion) for the first time in the fiscal year that ended Mar. 31. Of the total, slightly more than half--$4.4 billion--was sold to Japan's Defense Agency, nearly $3 billion for export orders and the rest for domestic operations and to support U.S. military forces in Japan.
Millard Franklin (Frank) Rose has been named director of the new Science Directorate and National Space Sciences and Technology Center at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. He was deputy director of its Space Sciences Laboratory.
The SAirGroup will acquire a 42% equity stake in Portugalia, a privately held Portuguese regional airline. SAirGroup earlier this year announced its intention to purchase a 20% share in trunk carrier TAP Air Portugal. Both will operate within the Qualiflyer Group, an alliance of European airlines led by SAirGroup.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's micro air vehicle program is bearing fruit--several of the tiny 6-in. drones have started flying. Contract options have been exercised, and the money is flowing.
Despite a recent rise in oil prices, Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries won't be able to reinitiate military procurements that were deferred when oil prices started slumping, according to Pentagon officials. The Persian Gulf countries have a lot of near-term debt to service first and will need many months of sustained, high oil prices before they can consider buying more weapons, they said.
Rockwell Collins will provide the replacement high-frequency radio system for the British Royal Air Force E-3D Sentry AWACS aircraft under a $17-million contract.
The Carlyle Group, a Washington-based investment firm, said it will acquire Gemini Air Cargo Inc. for an undisclosed sum. Gemini, headquartered at Dulles International Airport, provides aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance services to air cargo operators in Europe, the U.S. and Asia, operating DC-10-30 freighters.
The U.K.'s Ministry of Defense has postponed until the autumn a decision on privatizing the Defense Evaluation Research Agency (DERA) because of concerns raised by industry and unions at the government laboratories. The government proposes converting DERA, minus some strategically sensitive activities, into a quasi-private company in which the Ministry of Defense would retain a stake, as well as a substantial oversight role.
An FAA investigation into allegations of unsafe operations and maintenance practices at Northwest Airlines has revealed several deficiencies: a lack of follow-through in the handling of repeat maintenance discrepancies and past difficulties in scheduling aircraft checks. Investigators cleared Northwest of any wrongdoing, and the airline's DC-9 upgrade, an $804-million program underway since 1994, passed the FAA review.
SR Technics has received a 12-year contract from Hapag-Lloyd to support the CFM56-7 engines powering the German carrier's 16 Boeing 737-800s. A contract extension is expected when Hapag-Lloyd takes delivery of more 737-800s.
The Star Alliance has agreed to make Mexicana its 10th member airline, compensating somewhat for the loss of South African Airways late last month to the rival Qualifyer Group, led by the SAirGroup.
Bradford W. Parkinson, Edward Wells professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif., has won the Elmer A. Sperry Award for 1998 for leading the concept development and early implementation of the Global Positioning System. The award recognizes contributions to engineering that ``advance the art of transportation.''
The European Space Agency has unveiled updated technical details of its Rosetta mission to rendezvous with and place a lander on the comet Wirtanen in 2012 just as NASA canceled a similar mission for budgetary reasons. The one-billion-euro ($1.02-billion) Rosetta project is considered a key element of ESA's Horizon 2000 long-term scientific program. Roger Bonnet, ESA director of science, said the mission will build on the discoveries made by ESA's Giotto spacecraft, which provided the first close-up views of a comet's nucleus in 1986.
Ambassador Thomas Graham, Jr., was a special representative of President Clinton for arms control, nonproliferation and disarmament from 1994-97. He is president of the Lawyers Alliance for World Security (LAWS). John B. Rhinelander, legal adviser to the U.S. SALT I delegation that negotiated the ABM Treaty, is a vice chairman of LAWS. Minister-Counselor Alexander S. Yereskovsky, a former senior Soviet/Russian diplomat, is a post-doctoral fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs of the John F.
Fairchild Dornier's 32-seat 328JET regional twinjet obtained European Joint Aviation Authorities certification on July 8 after completing a 1,560-flight-hour test program. FAA certification is expected to follow soon, company officials said. First delivery will be to Milwaukee-based Skyway Airlines, the 328JET's launch customer.
Norway's Kongsberg Defense&Aerospace makes the Penguin antiship missile and has chosen TD Technologies' SLATE system engineering tools for future missile development. The program will be used for risk analysis, systems architecting, and tracking of requirements and technical performance measurements. Kongsberg said it chose SLATE for its ease of use, deep functionality, robustness, open architecture, and TD Technologies' plan to improve the program. . . . Obsolete parts can be managed by IHS Engineering's DMS (Diminishing Manufacturing Sources) Alert Service.
Lockheed Martin will shift final assembly of the U.S. Air Force's next-generation air superiority fighter to a new location at its facility here in order to turn F-22 production into the ``leanest in the aerospace field.''
Delta Air Lines bumped 8,144 passengers from flights in the first quarter of this year, more than any other major airline, according to the U.S. Transportation Dept. United Airlines was No. 2, bumping 2,142 passengers in the quarter, and Southwest Airlines had the third highest total, 1,938. Delta also had the worst record for the first quarter of last year, bumping 2,736. The statistical category covers passengers who are booked on but are not allowed to board a flight because it was oversold.
Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems is using laser direct manufacturing techniques to create complex, three-dimensional parts for aircraft. Developed by Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., the Laser Engineered Net Shapes (Lens) process uses robotic-controlled YAG-type lasers and metal powders to fabricate parts more rapidly and at lower cost than conventional processes. The system is especially applicable to exotic, expensive materials such as titanium that are difficult to machine. It is capable of depositing between 0.3 lb. and 10 lb.
H&F Aeronautical Technologies has a program to automate management of test requirements and information for aerospace projects. The Test Documentation Management System 2000 was used on Boeing's Delta IV launcher from qualification of first subassembly to full launch pad tests. It worked with existing Boeing systems and helped shorten test cycles. TDMS/2000 manages data reports, archiving and data recovery, and has measuring processes to project the critical path of test programs.
