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Aviation History
2001
2001 - 0995.PDF
Astrium business to split into satellite and launcher arms CHRIS JASPER/AMSTERDAM EUROPEAN SPACE business Astrium is to be split in two, widi one part retaining the Astrium name and specialising in satellite manufacture and the other focus ing on launchers. The move will coincide witii the folding into Astrium of France's EADS Launch Vehicles or ELV (formerly Aerospatiale Matra Lanceurs) and CASA Space of Spain, both owned by Astrium's 75% shareholder EADS. The two EADS units were orig inally due to merge directly into 'old Astrium', enlarging it and decreasing the stake of 2 5 % share holder BAE Systems. Under the new move, the satellite business, dubbed 'New Astrium Satellites', will receive parts of ELV and CASA Space, with the launcher business taking the bulk of ELV, the rump of Astrium and the rest of CASA Space. It will be an all-EADS operation, known as EADS Launchers. Astrium and ELV had sales last year of €2 billion ($1.8 billion) and €1 billion respectively, but the restructuring, to be completed by year-end, according to EADS executive vice president Jean- Louis Gergorin, should see the for mer ELV grow by 25-33%. The move - aimed, he says, at "improv ing the two businesses and prepar ing them for possible further consolidation within their sectors" - will also see a net transfer of 1,100 staff from Astrium (which employs 7,400) to ELV(3,400). New Astrium will retain sites at Velizy and Toulouse in France, Stevenage, Poynton and Portsmouth in the UK and Lampoldhausen, Ottobrunn and Friedrichshafen in Germany. It will inherit part of ELV and CASA Space's Madrid-based Crisa sub sidiary. EADS Launchers will inherit ELV's major sites at Les Mureaux and Aquitaine in France and the Kourou launch base in French Guiana, Astrium's Bremen site and part of Friedrichshafen, and some of CASA. ELV's launcher business includes the Ariane. 4 and 5 launch ers, the International Space Station's Auiorrtated Transfer Vehicle and MSBS missile launch ers, plus the Starsem venture with Soyuz, while Astrium's includes stages and structures for Ariane, the small payload Eurockot ven ture with Khrunichev, and the similar Leolink, and the Dual Launcher business ELV is set to grow Payload Attach Fitting for Boeing's Delta II. Excluded from die restructuring is Finemeccanica's Alenia Spazio, talks having broken down over valuation and its wish to remain in both satellites and launchers, sources say. BAE has no launcher interests, but could see its stake in the satellite unit increase via Astrium's new Paradigm consor tium - formed to bid for die UK's Skynet 5 contract. • Alenia to cut price of C-27J in battle with CASA ALENIAPLANS to reduce the cost of the C-27J tactical transport by 30% Js it struggles to compete against rival EADS CASA and its C2 95. The move follows the loss of a Swiss order to CASA late last year. Alenia Aerospazio president Giorgio Zappa says: "In Swit zerland we won the technical com petition but CASA was cheaper by 30%." When it announced its decision lastNovember to acquire two C295s, the Swiss defence min istry said the C-27J's transport and flight characteristics were superior, but die Spanish aircraft had lower i acquisition and life cycle costs. The C-27J has been developed with Lockheed Martin as part of an offset deal linked to an Italian air force C-130J Hercules purchase and has components in comtfton with die larger transport,including the engine and some systems. Zappa says the Lockheed Martin deal was to price the C-27J at half the cost of the Hercules, "but it is important to build cheaper". Alenia is aiming for internal sav ings of around 14% this year and 9-10% in 2 002. Other savings could come by shifting work from Alenia factories in northern Italy to the south where overheads are lower. The workshare ratio between Lockheed Martin and Alenia could also be adjusted, says Zappa. Military and civilian certifica tion of the C-27J is planned for June, says Zappa. Competitions in Brazil, Greece, Malaysia and Poland are head-to-head battles between EADS and Alenia. The latter predicts a market for 350 C-27J/C295-class transports over the next 20 years, although Zappa acknowledges that trans port needs often come second to fighter procurement. • Mir reaches the end of the road MIR ENDED its 15-year space career at 0559 GMT on 2 3 March widi a successful de- orbit and re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Most of the station disintegrated, but 27t of debris fell into the Pacific Ocean, 2,800km (1,700 miles) east of New Zealand. The re-entry followed a series of successful engine firings to place die station in the correct position. The 154t station, seen as die last symbol of the former Soviet Union's massive space programme, started life on 20 February 1986 widi die launch of the 20t central Mir core module. Five 10t-20t science and research modules were later added. Mir, which had made 86,320 orbits travelling 3.5 billion km, was manned continuously for two weeks short of 10 years. It hosted 110 visits by spacecraft and 104 individuals, conducting over 23,000 experiments, with about 140 EVAs completed. Mir suffered a number of mal functions, along with two fires and a collision wim a Progress tanker. • US carriers attack losses with cost cuts US CARRIERS are moving to cut costs after warning of first-quarter losses caused by a downturn in die US economy. Northwest Airlines plans to retire three McDonnell Douglas DC-10-40s ahead of schedule by die end of die year as part of cost- reduction initiatives totalling more than S200 million. But the airline says it will maintain its planned investment in new aircraft. Other actions include reducing non-profitable flying and a 5% cut in the management payroll. Northwest expects to report a first quarter loss of $130-150 million. After a similar decline in business travel, United Airlines will make $200 million in-flight service cuts. America West Airlines is to retire two Boeing 737-200s and two -300s early, but will take deliv ery of 15 Airbus A319/A320s as planned. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 27 March - 2 April 2001 7
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