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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 0904.PDF
HEADLINES AIR TRANSPORT AARON KARP / WASHINGTON DC USA clears pilots to carry firearms Initial group are packing pistols following 48h of training Forty-four US commercial airline pilots were cleared last week to cany guns in flight on domestic services. This move signifies the operational launch of the USA's controversial flightdeck defence programme. This group of pilots, who have completed 48h of training and were issued with 0.40 calibre semi automatic pistols, is known as "the prototype" class of gun-toting flightcrew. The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which ini tially resisted arming pilots, is administering the programme that was devised last year by Congress. While tens of thousands of pilots are technically eligible to participate in the programme, the TSA plans to take its time before it implements the scheme on a wide-scale basis. According to strict TSA guide lines, the pilots can only wear the guns on their person when they are in the cockpit and the flightdeck door is closed and locked. When in public or walking through an airport, the pilot must keep the pistol in a securely locked box that must be hidden inside a "nondescript bag". Armed pilots will go though "specialised" security procedures in airports similar to those undergone by US federal air marshals and armed federal law enforcement officers travelling on commercial flights, says the TSA. Only while inside a cockpit can the pilots legally remove their guns from the locked boxes, says the TSA. The agency adds that the pistols can only be fired "to thwart a potential breach of the flight- deck". Cockpits are now protected by hardened, ballistics-proof doors. In the event of a security inci dent during a flight, the pilots are explicitly prohibited from leaving the cockpit to engage in armed confrontation in the aircraft cabin. They have "a very specific and focused role and jurisdiction", says the TSA, emphasising that "this is strictly for cockpit defence". The TSA adds: "We would like to take weeks, if not months, to study the prototype class," explaining that it will be the "summer at the earliest" before a second group of pilots is armed. AIR TRANSPORT Airbus A330 to debut in China Airbus has scored its first sale of widebody A330s in the fast-growing China market as part of a bulk deal involving 30 aircraft for five airlines. An agreement was signed in Beijing on 25 April covering four A330s, 16 A319s and 10 A320s, to be ordered by state-run China Aviation Supplies Import and Export. Aircraft will be allocated to Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Sichuan Airlines. All but Hainan - a loyal Boeing customer with 737s and 767s - are existing Airbus operators. Airbus says it is not able to say which aircraft will go to which airlines, and there are no indications when engine selections will be made. Deliveries are due to begin in 2004. China Southern is expected to be allocated the majority of the aircraft, how ever, including all four A330s. Late last year it put in a request to the Chinese government for approval to order the four widebodies and 20 A320 family air craft (Flight International, 26 November-2 December 2002). It is unclear if it will receive all the narrowbodies it wanted, however. Airbus has had many sales successes in China with its A320 family of nar rowbodies and its older A300 widebody, and limited success with its four-engined A340-300/600. Airbus says its first A330 deal in China represents "a significant breakthrough". Briefing American's Carty goes following pay row RESIGNATION American Airlines chief executive Don Carty resigned at a board meeting on 24 April. The news came at the end of a week in which American teetered on the brink of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. After months of negotiation, Carty won union consent to a package of deep wage cuts, but then enraged unions by revealing generous executive pay deals the next day. Pilots, cabin crew and ground staff all threatened to withdraw their consent, and although the other two have now signed a revised package, the flight attendants' union had still not agreed on 25 April. Finmeccanica cleared for Aermacchi takeover ACQUISITION The Italian competition authority has cleared Finmeccanica's takeover of aircraft manufacturer Aermacchi. Finmeccanica agreed on 19 December 2002 to pay €160 million ($166 million) to the Foresio family in exchange for a 66.6% share of Aermacchi's holding company Aeronautica Macchi Group. Upon completion, the deal will bring 94% of Aermacchi under Finmeccanica's control. TSA issues access certificates SECURITY The first six Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Access Certificates (TSAACs) have been awarded to flight departments based at New Jersey's Teterboro airport. The operators, which included American International Aviation and Verizon, had completed training on the US National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Security Protocol and received TSA approval to use those procedures for international flights as part of a trial security programme. The NBAA hopes that these and other TSAAC-approved business jet operators will have access to selected airspace affected by temporary flight restrictions. Burnham resigns as head of Raytheon DEPARTURE Raytheon chief executive Daniel Burnham is to resign on 1 July, to be succeeded by president William Swanson. Burnham will continue as non-executive chairman of Raytheon for a few months more, the company says. Although his term of office has seen Raytheon absorb major acquisitions, including Hughes Defense and Texas Instruments Defense, revenues failed to rise significantly- from $16.2 billion in 1998 to $16.7 billion last year- and the company fell sharply into the red, from $840 million net profit in 1998 to a net loss of $640 million in 2002. Deliveries of the company's corporate aircraft continued to fall in the first quarter of 2003. SEE BUSINESS AVIATION PAGE 17 Boeing hit by write-downs, customer financing RESULTS Write-downs on acquisitions and customer financing pushed Boeing to a first-quarter net loss of $478 million. The company was profitable before the charges, but operating income slipped to $540 million from $902 million a year earlier as commercial aircraft deliveries fell to 71 from 110 in the first quarter of last year. A share price fall forced charges totalling $913 million to write down the value of Boeing's acquisitions of satellite manufacturer Hughes Space & Communications and aeronautical information provider Jeppesen. The fall in commercial aircraft lease rates and residual values brought charges of $193 million to revalue assets and strengthen reserves. JetBlue buys more A320s ACQUISITION US low-fares carrier JetBlue Airways has placed a firm order with Airbus for 65 A320s, plus 50 options. Delivery of the new International Aero Engines V2500-powered A320s will take place in 2004-11. Varig endures another setback DEPARTURE Varig's chief executive Manuel Guedes has resigned after five months at the airline. Industry sources blame disagreements with Gilberto Rigoni, president of the administrative council of the Fundagao Rubem Berta, which controls 87% of the Varig Group. www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 29 APRIL - 5 MAY 2003 5
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