EU carbon dioxide allowances (EUAs) held within the previous month's range in October, as the market took stock of proposed regulatory changes and new primary supply from government auctions. However, United Nations' carbon offset credits crashed to a new all-time low as the market continued to feel the effects of a severe oversupply and signs of a possible ban on some credits in the European Union system.
A Chinese word, puji, probably best summarizes the biggest remaining challenge for business aviation in the world's second-largest economy. The word means to popularize something, or to make it well known—to circulate an idea.
“Danger Games” (AW&ST Oct. 22, p. 48) misses the important point that successful diplomacy, or even successful military action, requires empathy, a true knowledge of how and what one's opponent thinks and feels. Clearly empathy does not imply approval, it implies understanding. In diplomacy it is essential, otherwise the participants are merely talking past each other and nothing is accomplished. In military affairs it is the key ingredient to out-thinking and out-maneuvering one's opponent.
Mark Downey has joined Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Channel Technologies Group as chief financial officer. He was CFO at Ensign-Bickford Aerospace and Defense Co.
General Electric and Pratt & Whitney have been awarded contracts totaling more than $680 million to demonstrate variable-cycle, next-generation fighter engines under the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Adaptive Engine Technology Development (AETD) program. AETD is the follow-on to the lab's $524 million Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology program, under which GE Aviation and Rolls-Royce Liberty Works will run adaptive-fan engine demonstrators next year.
Japanese company Mitsui has become the first strategic partner to join General Electric's GE9X engine development effort for Boeing's proposed 777X. Though technically not yet launched, the GE9X study is expected to attract additional partners as it transitions to development. The GE9X is being designed as a successor to the GE90 that powers the 777 family and will leverage technology produced for the recently introduced GEnx engines for the 747-8 and 787. Mitsui will provide financial support in exchange for an interest in the engine, says GE.
Nov. 13—Engine MRO Asia. Singapore. Nov. 14-15—MRO Asia. Singapore. Jan. 22-23—MRO Middle East. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. March 5-6—Defense Technology Requirements. Arlington, Va. March 7—Aviation Week's Laureate Awards. Washington. April 16-18—MRO Americas/MRO Military. Atlanta. May 7-8—Civil Aviation Manufacturing. Charlotte, N.C. May 14-15—MRO Eastern Europe. Vilnius, Lithuania Sept. 25-27—MRO Europe. London.
The big European legacy carriers will have to focus on replacing their widebody fleets in the next few years, and orders are in place for some, but not all, of their requirements.
An Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares-rocket first stage apparently will be able to undergo a hot-fire test on its seaside launch pad on Wallops Island, Va., despite the high winds and water that blasted the barrier island during Hurricane Sandy. Wallops was evacuated for the storm, leaving the Antares stage in position on the pad and its nearby horizontal processing facility locked down.
The Indian government is likely to conclude a multibillion contract with Dassault Aviation for 126 Rafale fighters in six months or less now that negotiations have reached a crucial stage and inquiries into the selection process are over. Industry and government sources are emphasizing that “all hurdles have been cleared,” following questions in the Indian parliament about how the commercial bids were interpreted.
The collapse of a proposed $1.79 billion acquisition by a Chinese suitor could quite likely result in the permanent production cessation of Hawker Beechcraft's line of jets, a severe reduction of their factory support, the closure of plants and a drastic downsizing of the company. While negative, this is indicative of the impact international players have on today's business aviation market.
The business jet industry will remain stuck in low gear in 2013 as lingering market sluggishness suppresses deliveries of small- and mid-sized aircraft. But a shift in demand toward larger jets capable of flying longer ranges should boost sales in the coming years. That is the upshot of Honeywell's annual Business Aviation Forecast, which offers no silver bullets to an industry that has been searching for signs of a recovery since demand imploded four years ago at the onset of a global economic crisis.
John Provenzano of Delta Air Lines, is the new president of the Greater Washington Aviation Open, succeeding Paul Bollinge of Boeing Energy, who will remain on the board of the golf tournament.
Pratt & Whitney always believed the pivotal launch of the geared turbofan for regional and smaller airliners was the first step to opening a crack in the door back to the big time. Now, with tests of the first Airbus A320NEO engine about to begin, there is no disguising Pratt's view that the door is finally yawning wide open.
Just weeks after scoring a big win in India with a variant of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, Boeing's defense unit has landed the Indian military's other big rotary-wing victory as its CH-47F Chinook took the heavy-lift competition.
Russia's 49 Progress resupply capsule docked with the International Space Station early Oct. 31, following a 6-hr.flight from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the second accelerated cargo transit flown within the past three months. The freighter and its nearly 5,800 lb. of propellant, water, compressed air and oxygen, spare parts and research gear, carried out an automated linkup at 9:33 a.m. EDT. Typically flown over two-plus days, the faster, unpiloted Progress missions are setting the stage for possible accelerated Soyuz crew transport operations next year.
David McMillan (see photo) has become the chairman of Alexandria, Va.-based Flight Safety Foundation. He will remain as director of Eurocontrol until year-end. He has been director general of civil aviation at the U.K. Department of Transport.
If present trends continue, no airline pilot will fly without a tablet computer; nor will any aircraft mechanic attempt a repair without one. For the pilot, the devices represent the latest evolution in electronic flight bags (EFBs), which first made inroads, nearly two decades ago via the laptop computer. For mechanics, the far less bulky tablets will provide a new measure of mobility, as digital maintenance manuals can be downloaded and taken where the work is being done.
