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Aviation History
2000
2000 - 0634.PDF
HEADLINES e-commerce drives USA on airspace redesign GRAHAM WARWICK/WASHINGTON DC NASA AND the US Federal Aviation Administration have begun to define the airspace system that needs to be in place in the USA by the middle of diis century. The "aviation system after next" is expected to be influenced heavi ly by the demands that e-com merce will place on air transport. "The e-commerce economy is driving demand for air travel and faster delivery [of goods]," Charles Huettner, NASA's senior policy adviser for aviation told an Air Traffic Control Association sym posium in Washington DC. "Speed is die key to e-commerce and aviation is the key to speed." The modernisation of the US national airspace system will not be completed until 2015, but a joint FAA/NASA team has begun work with die aviation industry to devel op a consensus on requirements for die next system. "Research could take 10-15 years and implementa tion 10-20 years," says Hugh McLaurin, acting deputy director of the FAAs office of aviation research. The future US air transport sys tem will involve more than the commercial airlines, says Huet tner. "Making the hub-and-spoke system more efficient does not do enough," he says. "We have got to look at an integrated system." A range of future air transport sys tems will be involved, Huettner says, including personal jets. McLaurin says the FAA and NASA have "initiated planning to define the attributes of the next avi ation system". Research is also under way into air traffic manage ment (ATM) concepts. The near-term focus for mod ernisation is deployment of Free Flight Phase 1, which consists of decision support tools for air traffic- controllers. Definition of Free Fl ight Phase 2, due for deployment between 2003 and 2005, focuses on airborne systems. NASA is looking beyond 2005, with research planned into the integration of ground-based and airborne sys tems to create a distributed air/ground ATM environment. • Air-launched booster under study by USA BOF:iNG IS STUDYING the feasibility of developing an air- launched booster capable of launching military and commercial payloads on demand. The AirLaunch booster is being designed by Boeing and Thiokol Propulsion as a possible launch sys tem for the US Air Force's planned Space Manoeuvre Vehicle (SMV), a reusable, unmanned spaceplane. Launched from the top of a modified Boeing 747-400F freighter, the winged AirLaunch booster would also be able to carry a 3,000kg (7,5001b) commercial payload into low-Earth orbit. Preliminary design is to begin after a system requirements review in June, says Boeing. The develop ment programme calls for the system to be available to launch an SMV demonstration vehicle in die fourth quarter of 2004. The booster is made up of two Thiokol Castor 120 solid-rocket motors and a new third stage. The commercial version has a payload module based on the payload fair ing of Boeing's Delta II launcher. • Boeing strike bites as talks stall Boeing production lines have gone quiet as the engineers' strike takes effect DELIVERIES OF new Boe ing commercial aircraft have slowed to a trickle as the company declared an "impasse" in talks with more than 17,000 striking engineering and techni cal workers from the Society of Professional Engineering Em ployees in Aerospace (SPEEA) union. The strike, over pay and con ditions, began on 9 February and has delayed the delivery of around 15 aircraft. Boeing planned to deliver 42 in the month, but managed 27, of which 15 were handed over before the strike. Although Boeing does not formally count aircraft as delayed until they actually miss their intended month of deliv ery, it is becoming increasingly concerned about the knock-on effect for deliveries due this month and next. Airbus company back on track THE formation of a new Airbus Integrated Company (AIC) is back on track after an exchange of financial data between the partner companies, 20% shareholder BAE Systems has revealed. BAE says data was exchanged with European Aeronautic De fense and Space (EADS) partners (Aerospatiale Matra, Daimler- Chrysler Aerospace and CASA) last month. The company's chief operating officer, Mike Turner, says BAE will press for a maximum share in the AIC (which has replaced the Single Corporate Entity), but "we probably cannot be seen to have more than 20%". He says there "are other ways of realising" the size of BAE's stake. Turner says BAE is reluctant to form an AIC and surrender its Airbus veto until launch funding and workshare for the A3 XX is agreed. Under the current struc ture BAE is able to veto major Airbus decisions. Turner says Airbus president Noel Forgeard will report on potential A3XX cus tomers in June. Several firm cus tomers have already been secured. Chief executive John Weston, meanwhile, confirms that BAE hopes to be selected by Italy's Finmeccanica as a partner for Alenia Aerospace. EADS has also submitted a bid offering a deal built on a fighter joint venture. BAE chairman Sir Richard Evans says: "We won't do some thing stupid just to get the Alenia business, but we have something very special on the table." Weston revealed that BAE is likely to bid for the Lockheed Martin controls and electronic warfare businesses. BAE reported sales for 1999 of £8.93 billion ($14.24 billion), in cluding joint ventures and a month of Marconi Electronic Systems sales following the merger. On a proforma basis, last year's sales for the entity were £12.39 billion. Operating profit was £516 million, down 14% on 1998. Profit after deductions was £324 million, half 1999's due to exceptional losses. Its share of Airbus GIE's loss was £42 million. Airbus lost £210 mil lion, mostly through discounts on US narrowbodv sales in 1996/7. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 7 - 13 March 2000
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