European Union law does allow “public interventions” for airlines when they are made on terms that a private investor operating under normal market conditions would accept. When the “private investor” principle is not respected, (e.g. shareholders refuse to inject more funds), the support by public authorities constitutes state aid because the beneficiary receives an economic advantage that its competitors do not.
I was disappointed to see that of all the Aviation Week Program Excellence Awards (AW&ST Dec. 3, p. S1) only one woman is among the featured winners. Sacramento, Calif.
The U.K. could put maritime patrol back on the agenda, more than two years after the capability was lost through the cancellation of the BAE Systems Nimrod MRA4 program. Findings of a study carried out by the House of Commons's Defense Committee inquiry into future maritime surveillance will be handed to the Military Capability Board in April and options that “merit further investigation” will be examined prior to the next Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR), due to be carried out by the Ministry of Defense in 2015.
Aviation Week's Dec. 10 cover story featured a pilot report and a program review on Boeing's 787 by Senior Editors Fred George and Guy Norris, respectively. Norris also shot the video of the flight and has posted several pre-/during/post-flight photos on our Things With Wings blog. In the photo below, Fred George is in the left seat, 787 Assistant Chief Pilot Mike Bryan is in the right.
After a year of bureaucratic dithering by others, a core group of scientists and engineers has agreed to spearhead utilization of the U.S. National Laboratory on the International Space Station. The permanent board of the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (Casis) has a steep learning curve, but its members appear willing to spend some serious time putting out the word that there's a unique microgravity research facility available in orbit to anyone with a good idea for using it, free of charge.
The European Commission (EC) is between a rock and a hard place with more European airlines turning to their governments for financial support. It can either strictly apply its state aid rules and risk more bankruptcies, or the EC can compromise its tough stance and help struggling carriers to survive.
Karim Hijazi (see photo) has joined Monaco-based Boutsen Aviation as sales representative for Dubai. He was managing director for sales, audits and training at Air Synapsis Aircraft.
Jay Beckman of Chandler, Ariz., photographed “Night Flight,” Gene Soucy's pyrotechnics routine at EAA AirVenture 2012 last summer at Oshkosh, Wis. Beckman's image was among the 729 entered in Aviation Week & Space Technology's annual photo contest from 78 photographers in 13 countries. This year's competition was the 21st.
Robert H. Lewis has been named VP and general manager of Montreal-based CAE's Business Aviation, Helicopter and Maintenance Training business unit. He was CEO and president of Pentastar Aviation.
Mark Shaw (see photo) has become VP-general counsel at Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, succeeding Madeleine Johnson, who plans to retire Feb. 1. Shaw was associate general counsel for corporate transactions.
First the good news: The latest slump in the financial health of the airline industry appears to have bottomed out. Any celebration will be muted, however, since the recovery could be so gradual that it may not be noticeable in many major markets.
In its last web order update for the year, Boeing added 50 to its total for 2012, raising its net for the year to 1,115. The biggest boost came from 777s, one for Iraq and 30 that are unidentified. FedEx may be suffering from weakened demand—it said last week that quarterly profits dropped 12%—but it has ordered four 767-300Fs, bringing its total order count for the type to 50. The new deliveries are to start in 2014.
Ahmad Abdulkarim Julfar (see photo) has become chairman of Dubai-based Thuraya Telecommunications Co. He is CEO of Etisalat Group. Also elected to the board was Daniel Ritz, group chief strategy and mergers and acquisitions officer of Etisalat. Shereen Hanafi (see photo) has been appointed director of communications. She has held corporate communications roles at SES, Xantic, Fenestrae and KPN. Joseph R. Francis has been named director for North America.
Gulfstream has begun deliveries of outfitted G650 ultra-long-range, ultra-large-cabin business jets, with the first two aircraft going to U.S. customers Wynn Resorts and Exxon Mobil. The all-new G650 was certified in early September, and Gulfstream has a backlog of five years' production.
After more than a year-long delay, the U.S. Air Force has begun training its instructor pilots for the F-35 at Eglin AFB, Fla., joining its Marine Corps colleagues who have already started producing pilots. Gen. Edward Rice, who heads the Air Education and Training Center, gave the long-awaited nod to begin pilot training during a visit last week to the base, where the first F-35 schoolhouse has been established.
