Nikkei Microdevices' 1999 Flat Panel Display Yearbook is about to come out and will examine the next decade of display development. The yearbook is for Japanese industry and contains some facts that may be excluded from international presentations. The English translation will be available from InterLingua Linguistic Services at http://www.displaylibrary.com . . . . Alliant Techsystems has bought the iBASEt Shopfloor 2000 paperless manufacturing execution system for a new plant in Iuka, Miss.
Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways, long one of the world's most consistent money makers, is expected to post a $64-million loss on $3.6 billion in revenues for fiscal 1998. The loss is not surprising; Cathay posted a midyear operating loss of $22.6 million (AW&ST Aug. 10, 1998, p. 36). Its 1997 profit was $217 million on revenues of $3.64 billion, but Chairman Peter Sutch had warned that 1998 would be a tough year.
The FAA would pay for all of its operations with tax revenues held in the Airport and Airway Trust Fund if President Clinton's proposed Fiscal 2000 transportation budget were enacted. The budget proposal also calls for phasing out many of the excise taxes that replenish the trust fund, replacing them with user fees as the FAA becomes ``a more efficient, service-based organization.''
FAA Administrator Jane F. Garvey isn't going anywhere. A rumor bounced around the country in recent weeks, from New England to New York to Colorado, that Garvey had threatened to quit, fed up with ongoing procurement and budget problems and difficulty at times in having people in the 46,000-person bureaucracy complete seemingly simple and straightforward tasks. ``Absolutely not true,'' said the first FAA chief appointed (some say sentenced) to that job for a fixed, 5-year term.
Plans to integrate Russia's two leading aircraft enterprises are finally taking shape with the appointment of senior Sukhoi official Nikolai Nikitin as designer and director general of the VPK MAPO Military-Industrial Complex.
Despite failure of its third and last gyroscope, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (Soho) last week resumed operations and transmitted high-resolution pictures of the Sun. An ESA/Matra Marconi Space joint engineering team in the last few weeks developed a new software program intended to help regain control of the spacecraft, ignore false information generated by the failed gyroscopes and stop the depletion of hydrazine fuel used by onboard orientation jets.
Increased competition and a sharp decline in yield have prompted Kiwi International Air Lines to withdraw services from Chicago's Midway Airport. The City of Chicago, Midway's operator, is planning to sue the airline to collect $300,000 in allegedly overdue landing and facility fees. Kiwi plans to direct capacity to the Puerto Rican market.
FLS Aerospace will provide Spanish carrier Air Europa with component support for its new fleet of Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft. The business is worth 18 million pounds ($30 million) for the London Stansted Airport-based FLS.
A new Boeing programmable electronic warfare target drone is shown in an anechoic chamber prior to making its first three flights at Tyndall AFB, Fla., in late November and early December.
Lockheed Martin will pay more than $45 million in goods and services to the U.S. Air Force for it to accept its first C-130J transport. Air Force C-130J deliveries are more than a year behind schedule and weren't going to be fully ready until the summer. Under an agreement negotiated between Lockheed Martin and the Air Force, three C-130Js are being accepted this month, one going to Edwards AFB, Calif., for testing and the other two to Keesler AFB, Miss., for maintenance training.
The SAirGroup, Swissair's parent company, will acquire a major stake in AOM, a French independent carrier. The initiative is expected to further strengthen the Swiss carrier's assets in the European Union. AOM last year carried about 3.5 million passengers on domestic and long-haul routes and had an estimated 670 million euros ($770 million) in revenues. AOM is owned by Paris-based Consortium de Realisations (CDR), the defeasance subsidiary of Credit Lyonnais, a state-owned bank.
DaimlerChrysler Aerospace's anticipated record results for 1998 should put the company in a favorable bargaining position for the next round of restructuring in the European aerospace industry. ``We don't feel we're under any pressure; we are very comfortable with our position,'' said Chairman/CEO Manfred Bischoff. He maintains that DASA will ``energetically pursue its European and transatlantic options'' now that British Aerospace has decided to strike a deal with the General Electric Co. of the U.K. (AW&ST Jan. 25, p. 30).
A Patriot missile battery has been deployed to Incirlik air base, Turkey, as tensions continue to escalate. Turkish authorities requested the missiles following an Iraqi threat to retaliate against U.S. aircraft operating from the Turkish-American base. Late last week, the U.S. early warning system indicated a missile launch from Iraq and the base commander ordered troops into protective gear. But a check of the system showed that a component had given a false alarm and there had been no missile launch in Iraq.
William Hampton (see photo) has been appointed director of U.S. Air Force Delta programs for the Boeing Co. in Huntington Beach, Calif. He was Boeing's program manager for Motorola launch services. Hampton succeeds Walt Wilson, who is retiring.
Robert Hanisee and Jim Roth have been appointed to the board of directors of the Titan Corp. of San Diego. Hanisse is a chief investment officer for the Trust Co. of the West, and Roth is former chairman/president/CEO of the GRC Corp.
A pair of USAF F-15s collided over the Gulf of Mexico 75 mi. south of Eglin AFB, Fla., while engaging three F-16s in air combat maneuvers on Jan. 28. Both pilots ejected safely.
Russia's Legkiye Vertolyoty Mi (Mi Lightweight Helicopters) is undertaking a global marketing campaign for its new Mi-34S version. The 4-place, M-14B26B piston-engine-powered helicopter costs $350,000 and competes with the U.S.-built Robinson R-44, which also carries four. Mi plans to open service centers in countries with fleets of 10 or more Mi-34s, according to Vladimir Vyrelkin, head of marketing. The Mi-34S has a maximum takeoff weight of 1,450 kg. (3,200 lb.), cruise speed of up to 190 kph. (120 mph.) and 360-km. (225-mi.) range.
Eurocopter recorded a 10% rise in revenues last year, to FF11.1 billion ($1.95 billion), but orders declined 12.5%, to FF11.9 billion, from the year earlier. Earnings will not be announced until March, but are expected to be significantly higher than last year. Eurocopter received orders for 272 helicopters in 1998, including used helicopters, and delivered 216 new units. Two-thirds of the orders were from commercial customers. The company claims it won 40% of the world market and 70% of the European helicopter market.
Daniel C. Brandenstein, executive vice president/program manager of the Kistler Aerospace Corp., has become president of the Washington-based National Space Society. He succeeds Charles Walker.
American Airlines plans to begin construction late this year of a $1-billion terminal at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport to accommodate increased traffic and expansion of the carrier's international service.
Higher-efficiency triple-junction solar cells developed by Spectrolab could be operating on satellites by the end of the year, according to company officials. The triple-junction gallium arsenide solar cells are the result of more than 2 years of development work at Spectrolab, which is a unit of Hughes Electronics Corp. The company's first operational use of dual-junction cells was made more than a year ago on PanAmSat Corp.'s PAS-5, a Hughes HS 601 model satellite.
As an investment, Alaska Air Group Inc., the holding company for Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air Industries, already was looking attractive late last fall when AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines, purchased Reno Air and formed a marketing alliance with Alaska. Now that the full implications of AMR's moves are coming to light, Alaska Airlines is looking even better.
The United Arab Emirates won't sign the contract for their 80 F-16s until midyear at the earliest, said Robert T. Elrod, executive vice president at Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems. The signing has been delayed as the UAE and U.S. work through technology release issues related to the Block 60's advanced radar and EW system. Lockheed Martin is hopeful but not certain the sale will go through.
