Calum Laming has been appointed general manager-customer experience for Auckland, New Zealand-based Air New Zealand. He has held senior customer experience and marketing roles at Virgin Atlantic Airways and Procter & Gamble.
AW&ST: What challenges have been presented by your fleet growth? Hockin: In a short space of time, Virgin Australia has gone from operating just Boeing 737s to also operating Embraer 190s, Airbus A330s and 777-300ERs. The challenge has been around having a far more varied fleet rather than just a larger fleet. What are your heavy maintenance arrangements in Australia?
Shinichiro Ito (see photos) has been appointed president and CEO of Tokyo-based ANA Holdings and chairman of All Nippon Airways Co. He was president and CEO of ANA Group, where he will be succeeded by Osamu Shinobe, currently senior executive VP. ANA Chairman Yoji Ohashi will become chairman of ANA Holdings.
Steven J. Smith has been engaged by Chicago-based Airlink as its new executive director. He has been director of program development at 300Brand and Americas sales director in the Civil Aerospace department of Rolls-Royce North America.
Adam Jones did a wonderful job presenting the thorns in a pilot's career path. One thing that could be added to his list is the future rest rule about to take affect that will keep people away from home even more, making this job even less desirable. Boulder, Colo.
Turboprop manufacturers ATR and Bombardier predict buoyant prospects for prop-powered regional airliners which continue to grow in size. ATR is ramping up production to deliver 80 ATR42/72s this year and forecasts a market for some 3,350 aircraft worth $80 billion in this category over the next 20 years. Bombardier, which now has 47 operators of its Q400 in 22 countries, sees a market for some 2,850 over the same period.
European regulator EASA granted the Airbus Military A400M type certificate on March 13, another milestone as the company pushes to get the first aircraft delivered to the French air force before June and the Paris air show. As part of the military trials, Airbus Military has begun tests of more advanced military functions, including air-to-air refueling as well as the dropping of supplies and paratroopers. According to the company, the five-strong fleet of A400M development aircraft has now completed some 4,800 hr. and more than 1,600 flights.
With a U.K. commitment to increase its European Space Agency contribution 25%, the space industry is becoming a major economic driver in Britain. The nation's £1.2 billion ($1.8 billion) pledge to ESA programs is part of a larger €10-billion ($13 billion) spending package the agency approved last November, making the U.K. the agency's third-largest funder—after France and Germany—and positioning Astrium U.K. to reap the benefits.
China denounces suggestions that its aircraft industry simply copies others' successful designs. But another reason for its rapid advances has been revealed by Kamov general designer Sergei Mikheyev, who says the Russian design bureau secretly designed the baseline version of the Changhe Z-10 attack helicopter for China in the mid-1990s.
April 16-18—MRO Americas/MRO Military. Atlanta. April 17-18—MRO Military. Atlanta. May 14-15—MRO Eastern Europe. Vilnius, Lithuania. Sept. 24-26—MRO Europe. London. Oct. 29-31-MRO Asia. Singapore. Nov. 12-14-A&D Programs You can now register ONLINEfor Aviation Week Events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/events or call +1 (212) 904-4682.
Universal Avionics is close to certifying a micro-electromechanical (MEMS)-based attitude and heading reference system (AHRS) that the company says will enable it to better compete with avionics providers offering the technology for retrofit on business jets and turboprops.
I agree with reader David Thompson about the need to cancel the F-35 program (AW&ST March 4/11, p. 8). After 11 years its project managers can't even predict the year in which its development will have been completed. Should production ever begin, the unit cost will likely cause order cancellations.
Jon Remington (see photos) has been named VP and controller of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Technical services sector, headquartered in Herndon, Va. He was director of business management and division controller of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems military aircraft systems. Milou Carolan has become VP-human resources and administration for the Information Systems sector.
It's been 10 years since the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) began its careful probe into the reasons NASA lost a second space shuttle. The late Sally Ride, a member of both the CAIB and the Rogers Commission set up after the first shuttle disaster, famously commented at the time that she heard an “echo of Challenger” in the loss of Columbia. Now many of the conditions that allowed the U.S.
From locating balloons to re-assembling documents, from crowd-designed vehicles to disaster-response robots, researchers are using challenges to draw ideas from those who would never normally do business with the Pentagon.
As budgets are cut and margins squeezed, and business becomes more competitive, industry is turning to challenges to seek diverse views on difficult problems. And the prize, for the companies, can be ideas, talent or visibility in key markets. “Diversity of thought is key to innovation,” says Ray Johnson, Lockheed Martin senior vice president and chief technology officer. “The more different views you get on a problem, the more you can facilitate a culture of innovation.”
Simon Morris has been appointed VP for Fairfax, Va.-based ICF International's aviation practice in London. He was a principal of A. T. Kearney's airport practice.
Airbus is planning a ground-breaking ceremony April 1 for its new final-assembly plant in Mobile, Ala. Chief Operating Officer-Customers John Leahy says the aim is to complete construction in time for Airbus to start assembling A320s in 2015 and have first deliveries in 2016.
Sierra Nevada, with team member Embraer of Brazil, has once again defeated Beechcraft for the U.S. Air Force's Light Air Support aircraft contract for the young Afghan defense forces. The aircraft will be used for flight-training, close air support, intelligence-collection and other security missions.
April 16-18—MRO Americas/MRO Military. Atlanta. April 17-18—MRO Military. Atlanta. May 14-15—MRO Eastern Europe. Vilnius, Lithuania. Sept. 24-26—MRO Europe. London. Oct. 29-31—MRO Asia. Singapore. Nov. 12-14—A&D Programs. Phoenix. You can now register ONLINEfor Aviation Week Events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/events or call +1 (212) 904-4682.
