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UPDATE 
Week ending July 22, 2001
+++ Swissair and Belgian Government reach agreement over Sabena +++ Concorde test flight over Atlantic +++ Lufthansa feels slump +++ European aerospace industry in good shape +++ ESA starts recovery of Artemis +++ News in Brief +++

Swissair and Belgian Government reach agreement over Sabena
Mehr Geld für die Sabena

On July 17, Swissair Group and the Belgian Government jointly announced that they have reached a solution which secures the future of Sabena whilst releasing Swissair Group from its commitment to increase its stake in Sabena to 85 per cent. Under the terms of the agreement, the two parties have committed to a cash injection of EUR 430 million to be paid in four installments over the next two years. Swissair Group will pay 60 per cent of the committed funds and the Belgian Government 40 per cent. The first installment becomes due in October 2001. The restructuring measures reflected in the business plan 2001-2005 of Sabena management will be carried out as proposed in order to ensure profitability of Sabena. This agreement cancels a previous accord signed on 25 January 2001 whereby Swissair Group agreed to increase its shareholding in Sabena to 85 per cent. Swissair Group will now maintain its 49,5 per cent shareholding in Sabena. Neither the Swissair Group nor the Belgian Government will have any future funding obligations to Sabena, other than those set forth in the agreement signed today. The Belgian Government and Sabena will immediately withdraw their lawsuits against the Swissair Group. The costs associated with this agreement are covered by provisions in the Swissair Group's accounts as at year end 31 December 2000.
Swissair Group will take over Sabena's orders for nine narrow bodied Airbus aircraft, scheduled for delivery in 2002. The future of these aircraft will be managed as part of the ongoing restructuring of the Group's leasing portfolio. Mario A. Corti, chairman and chief executive of the Swissair Group said "I am satisfied that we have reached an agreement with the Belgian Government over Sabena. This agreement releases us from the commitment to increase the Swissair Group's share in Sabena to 85 per cent and from any open-ended funding commitments. This will reassure our lenders and shareholders concerning future funding by the Swissair Group and removes the uncertainty created by the various lawsuits that have been filed against us. With the payments phased over two years, the strain on our cashflow is reduced. This will further stabilise our financial situation. We are looking forward to continuing our successful commercial cooperation with Sabena."

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Concorde test flight over Atlantic
Überschall-Testflug der Concorde

On July 17, a British Airways Concorde took off for a verification flight to assess the operational impact of the modifications it has undergone. "Alpha Foxtrot", departed from London's Heathrow Airport at 14.20 and land at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, by approximately 18:00. The flight was under the command of British Airways' Captain Mike Bannister and CAA Chief Test pilot Jock Reid, on behalf of Airbus UK. They were accompanied by a team of British Airways and Airbus UK engineers. The flight plan routed the aircraft along its normal transatlantic track down the Bristol channel and west of Ireland before turning north towards Iceland. The aircraft flew at twice the speed of sound at 1350mph and at an altitude of up to 60,000 ft before rejoining the normal track inbound to the UK. The majority of the flight was over sea.
The verification flight is part of the programme to return Concorde safely to commercial service. It follows a series of ground tests and inspections and the installation of Kevlar-rubber compound fuel tank liners designed to minimise any fuel leaks should the wing skin be punctured. The wiring in the undercarriage area has also been strengthened. The flight replicated the conditions experienced on a normal Concorde flight from Europe to the USA and enable engineers to validate their calculations of the operational effect of the modifications, to confirm for instance their effect on fuel capacity, fuel transfer and fuel gauge readings. The results of the flight will be analysed and submitted to the airworthiness authorities.

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Lufthansa feels slump
Auslastung bei Lufthansa sinkt

Despite the weakening global economy and strike action by the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots' union, Lufthansa carried more passengers and maintained capacity utilisation at a high level in the first six months of the year. From January through June, the passenger count at the Group rose on the same term last year by 2.4 per cent to 23.1 million. Of that total, Lufthansa German Airlines flew 20.2 million passengers (plus 1.3 per cent) and its Lufthansa CityLine regional carrier three million (plus 10.5 per cent). The Group's aircraft, with sales of capacity reaching about 72 per cent, were again well utilised. The world economic slowdown weakened the first-half performance at Lufthansa Cargo. The freight volume was down at the halfway stage by 5.3 per cent to 832,422 tonnes and sales by 2.8 per cent. Since the capacity increase of 5.8 per cent could not be sold in the marketplace, the cargo load factor fell by 5.5 per cent to 62 per cent. Overall utilisation at the Lufthansa Group (passenger and freight business) dropped by 3.5 percentage points on the first six months in 2000 to 67.4 per cent.

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European aerospace industry in good shape
AECMA stellt Jahresbericht vor

The European aerospace industry is preparing itself for playing a strong role in the world market. The 2000 statistical and financial data of the industry, published today by AECMA during its annual press conference, show that all key indicators of the industry point to growth. Rainer Hertrich, President of AECMA and CEO of EADS, highlighted that European companies have reached a position from which they can aim at taking leading roles in global competition. The figures for the aerospace industry in Europe reflect its strength and
continued positive development in 2000: Turnover has increased by more than 7% to 72.3 billion Euro; order intake was 150% of turnover; backlog of the industry is 290 billion Euro; employment has slightly increased by 0.6% to 429,000 direct employees. This growth is mainly based on civil business. Civil exports (+12.7%) and civil domestic business (+8%) have been two strong pillars of success.
During the conference, Rainer Hertrich said: "Our industry is in very good shape. Further substantial restructuring and consolidation has enhanced its competitiveness. ... Its performance and strong exports provide a major contribution to the European economy as a whole." However, at the same time the reduction in the military business raises a question about how the industry will be able to maintain and enhance its capability in this strategically important sector. Industry and governments need to look for a more proactive approach for defence projects. "Lack of defence budgets and indecision over European defence projects are a problem", Hertrich said.
Commenting on the situation of the industry, Hertrich highlighted two major issues. Firstly, industry needs substantial R&D investment in order to secure its future. Compared with the high government funding of US aerospace research, there is a steadily widening gap. The 6th Framework Programme* would offer a chance for a significant step. The European Commission (EC) has selected the field of aeronautics as a showcase for research co-operation for the European Research Area. However, the first budget proposal of 1 billion Euro for aeronautics by the EC is by far below the required 2.2 billion Euro for aeronautics, ATM and space research, which derived from the joint industry/Commission study Vision 2020.

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ESA starts recovery of Artemis
Artemis unter Kontrolle

ESA's Artemis telecommunications satellite is fully under the control of the Altel (Alenia Spazio-Telespazio) operations team and system engineers in Fucino, Italy, supported by a team of ESA specialists, after a successful first orbit-raising manoeuvre. The satellite was launched by an Ariane 5 on Thursday 12 July from Kourou but was left in a degraded orbit due to a malfunction in the launcher's upper stage. Artemis was injected into an orbit with a perigee of 590 km, an apogee 17 487 km and inclination of 2.94 deg, compared to expected values of 858 perigee, 35 853 apogee, and 2 deg inclination. Since injection into orbit the spacecraft's behaviour has been nominal. The solar arrays were partially deployed, according to plan, some two hours after launch and started delivering the power required for operation. Several calibrations and simulated apogee firings have been performed in the last few days to prepare for the orbit manoeuvres described below.
The combined ESA/Alenia Spazio-Telespazio team has jointly selected a four-step strategy for bringing Artemis from the current non-nominal orbit to the geostationary orbit, as follows:
Step 1: The apogee boost motor (using chemical propulsion) is operated during several perigee passes (at the shortest distance from Earth) to increase the apogee (the maximum distance from Earth) to about 31 000 km. The perigee will not be raised by very much. Ground stations at Fucino (Italy), Malindi (Kenya), Perth (Australia), Goldstone (USA) and Kourou (French Guiana) will monitor the satellite.
Step 2: The elliptical orbit is then circularised by a number of apogee and perigee manoeuvres resulting in a quasi-circular parking orbit with the satellite at 31 000 km above the Earth and an orbit duration of about 18 hours. On completion of this step, the solar arrays will be fully deployed, as will the antenna reflectors. The satellite will then be in nominal mode, while not yet in geostationary orbit.
Step 3: With the satellite in the parking orbit, nominal spacecraft commissioning (activation and checking that all satellite elements are operating correctly) will be carried out, as far as is possible, in this sub-geostationary orbit.
Step 4: The satellite will then be "spiralled" from the parking orbit to the nominal geostationary orbit using the satellite's electrical ion-propulsion system.

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NEWS IN BRIEF / KURZMELDUNGEN

The United States and Japan will team up to rebuild and launch a powerful observatory for measuring high energy phenomena in the Universe. The Astro-E2 observatory will replace the original Astro-E satellite, which was lost during launch in February 2000. The Japanese government recently approved the Astro-E2 mission and has invited NASA to participate. "The opportunity to support the rebuilding of the Astro-E observatory provides NASA with an excellent path for completing the ambitious goals of this program," said Dr. Alan Bunner, Science Director of NASA's Structure and Evolution of the Universe program. Scheduled for launch in February 2005, the instruments on Astro-E2 will provide powerful tools to use the Universe as a laboratory for unraveling complex, high-energy processes and the behavior of matter under extreme conditions. These include the fate of matter as it spirals into black holes, the nature of supermassive black holes found at the center of quasars, the 100 million degree gas that is flowing into giant clusters of galaxies, and the nature of supernova explosions that create the heavier elements, which ultimately form planets.
+++
Crossair, the Basel, Switzerland headquartered European regional carrier, has awarded Plane Handling Limited a contract to handle all the airline's cargo and courier express requirements at Heathrow Airport, with effect from September 1st. This major new business gain boosts Plane Handling's association with Crossair as the company has been providing cargo handling services for the airline since 1997 at Manchester. The new contract, for an unspecified period, calls for Plane Handling to provide full cargo handling services at Building 549, the company's prime airside facility at London Heathrow, transportation of cargo between these premises and airside at Terminal 2 as well as transportation of courier express shipments to/from airside at Terminal 2 and Building 139, Heathrow's dedicated courier facility.
+++
Bosch and Astrium signed an agreement regarding the sale of Bosch SatCom GmbH, Backnang. This agreement is subject to approval by cartel authorities. As Bosch wants to concentrate on its core businesses, the company has decided to divest this subsidiary which designs, manufactures and sells equipment for the commercial communication satellite market. Astrium is one of its major customers. Bosch SatCom, based in Backnang, Germany (near Stuttgart), designs and manufactures payload equipment for communications satellites. It has 630 employees and achieved total sales of 78 million EURO in 2000. The company has participated in more than 350 space projects since its founding in 1971. Astrium will maintain and develop Bosch SatCom as a world center of excellence for telecom payload andequipment technology.
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The first US Army AH-64D Longbow combat helicopter equipped with initial enhancements that will be introduced during the second multiyear production program completed its first flight Thursday at The Boeing Company in Mesa, Ariz. The pre-production Apache Longbow, which flew for 23 minutes, was equipped with numerous system updates that incorporate commercial off-the-shelf technologies to reduce costs and allow for future growth while extending product operational life. The enhancements also will provide a foundation to support the Army's emerging digitized battlefield requirements. The first multiyear II helicopters - the sixth lot of U.S. Army Apache Longbows - will come off the production line in early 2002. Through 2006, the Army's fleet of AH-64DApache Longbows will grow to 501 helicopters.
+++
Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer and MP for Dunfermline East, and Armed Forces Minister, Adam Ingram, visited HMS ARK ROYAL today (13 Jul) as she sailed from Rosyth for trials in the North Sea after extensive refit. HMS ARK ROYAL arrived at Rosyth in May 1999 and the 147 million pound refit by Babcock Engineering Services included strengthening the flight deck for the new Merlin anti-submarine helicopters and making further alterations to allow the carrier to operate RAF GR7 Harriers.
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The European Commission has decided to fine Scandinavian airlines SAS and Maersk Air Euro 39.375 million and Euro 13.125 million respectively for operating a secret agreement that led to the monopolisation by SAS of the Copenhagen-Stockholm route to the detriment of over one million passengers that use that major route every year, as well as to the sharing out of other routes toand from Denmark. SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System) is a consortium partly owned by the Swedish, Danish and Norwegian states. Maersk Air A/S is a Danish company owned by the A.P.Moller group. Together, they are the two main airlines that operate flights to and from Denmark, the country most concerned by the investigation. The two companies concluded a cooperation agreement in October 1998 which they notified to the European Commission for regulatory approval. The notification, however, focused on code-sharing provisions, under which SAS could market Maersk Air's flights as SAS flights, and the extension of SAS's frequent flyer programme to Maersk's clients.
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Boeing; Lockheed Martin; Modern Technologies Corp., Science Applications International Corp; Support Systems Associates Inc., and Technical and Management Services Corp have been selected to receive a $7,400,000,000 (maximum) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity type contract with multiple pricing arrangements. This contract provides for the Flexible Acquisition and Sustainment Tool (FAST) Program. FAST will provide for the sustainment of US Air Force managed weapon systems, support systems, subsystems and components. This will include services, modifications, and limited, contingency and critical spares and repair services. Contracts will be awarded upon determination of initial delivery order requirements. Delivery orders will be issued and funds will be obligated as individual requirements are identified. The Air Force can award delivery orders under the FAST Program totaling up to the maximum amount indicated above, though actual requirements may necessitate less than this amount. At this time, zero funds have been obligated. Delivery dates will be specified in individual delivery/task orders. Solicitation began October 2000; negotiations were completed June 2001. The Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., is the contracting activity.
+++
EADS European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company and BAE Systems, the two shareholders of the newly created Airbus SAS, named the members of the Airbus shareholders committee. Headed by Rainer Hertrich, CEO of EADS, the Airbus shareholders committee includes Philippe Camus, CEO of EADS, Axel Arendt, EADS Chief Financial Officer, Alberto Fernandez, Head of the EADS Military Transport Aircraft Divison, Jean-Louis Gergorin, Head of Strategic Coordination for EADS, Mike Turner, COO of BAE Systems and George Rose, Group Finance Director of BAE Systems.
+++
BAE Systems Aviation Services, part of the Aircraft Services Group, Filton, Bristol, UK, has signed a base maintenance agreement with TNT Airways of Liege, Belgium, and with Pan Air, based in Madrid. Through this contract, worth $18 million, BAE Systems Aviation Services will undertake required heavy maintenance checks for the next three-years. The agreement has been specifically designed to support the five BAE Systems Airbus A300B4 passenger-to-freighter conversions currently in service. TNT Airways and Pan Air will operate the five BAE Systems Airbus A300B4 freighters on the European network. The conversion included a full heavy maintenance check, strip and repaint in parallel with the conversion reducing downtime and optimising costs. The agreement provides full base maintenance specifically tailored to meet TNT Airways' operational requirements.
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The 1,660th successful flight of a Soyuz launch vehicle took place on Friday, July 20, 2001 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. The launcher lifted off on schedule at 04:17 a.m. Plesetsk local time (02:17 a.m. in Paris) and the governmental spacecraft was placed on the target orbit. This was the 6th Soyuz mission in 2001 and the 64th successful launch in a row associated with the Soyuz family of launchers. 9 of these 64 successes were human flights. Soyuz sustained launch rate confirms its position as one of the world's primary launch vehicles. This rate also demonstrates Samara Space Center's continuous production capacity, as well as the operational capability of launch teams at Baikonur under the authority of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency. Starsem is the Soyuz Company, bringing together all key players involved in the production, operation and international commercial marketing of the world's most versatile launch vehicle. Shareholders in Starsem are the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (25%), the Samara Space Center (25%), EADS (35%) and Arianespace (15%). The Starsem manifest for Soyuz missions currently includes contracted launches for Space Systems/Loral, Alcatel Space Industries, the European Space Agency and Eumetsat.
+++
Singapore Airlines has signed a firm contract for 10 A380-800s, confirming its earlier announced commitment for the purchase of the 21st century jetliner. The A380, the only all-new very large aircraft on offer, has demonstrated its success in the market by winning 67 firm orders and commitments from eight customers to date. In addition to the firm orders, Singapore Airlines has options for a further 15 of the type. Singapore Airlines will also be the first airline in the world to operate the 555-seat A380, with the delivery of the first aircraft scheduled for the first quarter of 2006. Subsequent deliveries of the firm order aircraft will continue through to 2007. The airline will deploy the A380 on high-density routes to London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney. The A380 will also complement the non-stop services that Singapore Airlines plans to operate to US destinations with the arrival of the ultra long-range A340-500 in 2002.
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The Thai airline Bangkok Airways has taken delivery of its first ATR 72-500. Bangkok Airways signed a contract for 6 new generation ATR 72-500s in September 2000 (with an option for six additional ATR 72-500s). These aircraft will be put into service on the airline's domestic network as well as on new international routes into Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. The ATR 72-500 of Bangkok Airways made its first public appearance at the Paris Air Show where ATR put the aircraft on static display. This aircraft has been named Pha Ngan, as the sister island of Samui where thousands of tourists get together for the full moon celebrations. The second aircraft will be delivered towards the end of November 2001. The remaining deliveries are scheduled in November 2002, February 2003 and March 2003, the last delivery to be scheduled towards the end of 2003. Bangkok Airways started its ATR operations in 1994 and has an average dispatch reliability of over 99%. The airline operates domestic and international scheduled services from Bangkok and Samui to Pattaya, Phuket, Ranong, Sukhothai, Chiang Mai, Singapore, Phnom Penh and Angkor Wat (Siem Reap), all of these being major tourist destinations in South East Asia.
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Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Travelocity.com Inc., the market leader among online travel companies, have signed a global partnership agreement in Fort Worth, Texas. To Lufthansa, this agreement represents a considerable improvement in its online position and a higher market share in the US, Canada, the UK and Germany. "This partnership constitutes an important step forward in our efforts to exploit global online potential. Our co-operation with Travelocity will allow us to make use of synergies and to further strengthen our leading role in Europe," said Thierry Antinori, Executive Vice President Sales of Lufthansa German
Airlines.
+++
BAE Systems is delighted to welcome Rolls-Royce to the Exostar community, following the announcement that it is joining BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon in investing in Exostar, the leading global aerospace and defence eMarketplace. The announcement demonstrates the wider leadership role that BAE Systems and Roll-Royce are playing through their work in supporting industry bodies such as the UK Council for Electronic Business (UKCEB), the Society for British Aerospace Companies (SBAC), and others, in promoting the adoption of e-Business to enhance the competitiveness of the aerospace and defence industry in both Europe and North America. Both companies extended supply chains - comprising some 40,000 suppliers - will be able to benefit from Exostar's secure collaborative commerce platform, open standards, global connectivity, and growing set of specific e-Business value-added services and solutions for the aerospace and defence industry.
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Boeing has cleared a major hurdle in the development of its Air Traffic Management system with the licensing of a new mobile satellite service by the International Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). "The FCC action is a critical step toward the development and implementation of the satellite-based element of our overall Air Traffic Management architecture," said Dennis Muilenburg, Vice President - Engineering of Boeing's Air Traffic Management business unit. "We are very pleased that the FCC, which we consider an important stakeholder in our efforts, took this important action which supports the importance and urgency of a satellite-based Air Traffic Management system. The license enables Boeing to build a medium earth orbit constellation of non-geosynchronous orbit satellites operating in the 2 GHz band. Boeing's concept builds on the Air Traffic Control modernization plan announced last month by the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
+++
Boeing reported strong financial results for the second quarter with net earnings of $804 million, or $.95 per share, on $15.4 billion of revenue. These results exclude a $36 million non-recurring earnings benefit associated with improved F-15E production outlook. Net earnings, including the non-recurring F-15E related benefit, totaled $840 million, or $0.99 per share. Operating earnings and margins totaled $1.4 billion and 8.9 percent, respectively. Backlog remained strong and essentially stable for the first half of the year, totaling $148.5 billion, of which $121.0 billion is contractually committed. "I am pleased with our strong results for the quarter and first half of 2001," said Boeing chairman and CEO Phil Condit. "Our core businesses continue to deliver strong, consistently improving earnings, margins and cash flow, while our newer businesses achieved milestones toward delivering future growth and profitability." Net earnings for the first six months of 2001 were $2,077 million, or $2.45 per share, on revenues of $28.7 billion, compared with $1,038 million, or $1.18 per share, on revenues of $24.8 billion for the first half of 2000. Reported net earnings for the first six months of 2001 reflect a non-recurring tax benefit of $475 million, or $.56 per share in the first quarter, and an after-tax benefit of $36 million, or $.04 per share relating to the F-15E program in the second quarter, as noted above. Non-recurring impacts to reported net earnings for the first six months of 2000 included, on an after-tax basis, $26 million gain from the sale of a long-held investment and $33 million of interest income due to a federal income tax audit settlement during the first quarter. Also in 2000, a non-recurring after-tax charge of $34 million associated with the incurred costs of the successful demonstration launch of a Delta III rocket was recognized during the second quarter. Adjusting for non-recurring items for the first six months of 2000 and 2001, the comparable year-over-year net margins increased from 4.1 percent to 5.5 percent.
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"Keep at it," is what Germany's federal president Dr. Johannes Rau urged MTU's workforce during his visit to MTU Maintenance Berlin-Brandenburg. "Your success will be an incentive for others to copy." He was patently impressed with the change that had transformed Ludwigsfelde, adding: "MTU is a prime example of how quality jobs and entrepreneurial success in a high-tech industry can happen also in Germany's eastern regions," referring to the economically disadvantaged eastern parts that joined the country at reunification.
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In the first half of 2001, almost 24 million passengers used Frankfurt Airport (FRA) - 2.6 percent or 600,000 more passengers than in the same six-month period last year. While an increase of almost six percent was still registered during the first quarter of 2001, in the second quarter growth weakened noticeably, particularly because of the Lufthansa pilot strike. "We expect that we will reach a clearly higher level of passenger growth for all of 2001, than could be achieved in the first half of the year," said Dr. Wilhelm Bender, Chairman of Fraport AG's Executive Board. Due to the weakening global economy, above all, FRA's airfreight tonnage dropped 0.7 percent in the first half of 2001. The strong growth in the first quarter of 2001 was followed by a marked decline in the second quarter. Nevertheless, Frankfurt Airport remains the number one air cargo gateway in all of Europe. Although the number of aircraft movements at FRA grew only slightly by about 1 percent over the first half of 2000, the average number of passengers per flight increased by 1.7 percent. The Maximum Takeoff Weights (MTOWs) increased by 3.8 percent during the same period. This means a higher share of large aircraft at FRA and, thus, a capacity increase per aircraft movement. MTOWs are important for the calculation of take-off and landing charges.
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The Connect Consortium - comprising ABN AMRO Bank, Challenger, Egis, Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide, and Schiphol Group - delivered an "indicative bid" to the Government of Australia for the 100 percent privatization of Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (KSA). Sydney Airport is the country's main hub for both Australian Airlines/Star Alliance and for Qantas/OneWorld. In 2000, KSA ranked 36 in the world with 23.6 million passengers and 29 with almost 565,000 metric tons of air cargo. Well-managed by the Sydney Airport Corporation Ltd. (SACL), KSA also contributed to the memorable success of the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games. ABN AMRO is one of the leading investment banks in the world. Along with being a major financial player in the air transport sector, ABN AMRO has a strong presence in the Asia/Pacific region and is Europe's fifth largest bank. Challenger is a financial services company listed on the Australian stock exchange, Egis is a global infrastructure company owned by the French CDC financial group.
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Two significant milestones were reached by the Merlin helicopter within a period of four days. A Merlin HM Mark 1 anti-submarine helicopter landed aboard HMS Ark Royal on 14 July, the day after the aircraft carrier returned to sea after a comprehensive refit. And on 17 July, the Merlin HC Mark 3 tactical transport version entered squadron service with the RAF. The Merlin HC 3 is equipping 28 (Army Cooperation) Squadron based at RAF Benson. The squadron should be declared operational early in 2003, following completion of intensive trials. A total of twenty-two Merlins are being procured for the Royal Air Force. The HC 3 can carry 24 fully-equipped soldiers, or lift several tonnes of underslung cargo, and has been delivered on time and within budget. Part of the Joint Helicopter Command, 28 Squadron will one of the key support elements of 16 Air Assault Brigade.
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Stennis Space Center, Miss., has successfully completed a critical initial test in a three-part series for a Space Launch Initiative (SLI) test program of the Electro-Mechanical Actuator (EMA) technology used on the former X-33 program's Linear Aerospike XRS-2200 flight engine set. The July 12 test was a "start-sequence" test and went the full scheduled duration of 5.32 seconds. The test was a unique opportunity for NASA to effectively gain valuable experience and data from existing commercial technology. EMAs electronically regulate the amount of propellant (fuel and oxidizer) flow in the engine. The technology is a potential alternative and improvement to the older hydraulic-fluid systems currently used by the aerospace industry to drive and control critical rocket engine valves.
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Rolls-Royce, the aerospace, marine and energy power systems group, announced the signing of a long-term $360 million maintenance support agreement with Continental Airlines for its existing fleet of RB211-535E4B aero engines. This brings the total of new aftermarket business announced this year by Rolls-Royce to more than $2 billion. The ten-year Total Care agreement involves the provision of comprehensive maintenance, at a set cost, calculated on flying hours. Continental currently has 41 Boeing 757-200s in service powered by RB211-535E4B engines. The work will be carried out by Rolls-Royce at its Derby, UK facilities. John Cheffins, President Civil Aerospace, Rolls-Royce, said: "Continental is an important customer for Rolls-Royce, and this new agreement reflects the fact that individually tailored Total Care support packages, which offer reliable long-term relationships and predictable costs, are becoming an increasingly popular option for our customers."
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Goodrich Corporation has announced that it has been selected by Airbus to supply the evacuation systems for the A380 aircraft. Under the contract, Goodrich will engineer and manufacture the slides and provide customer support once the aircraft enters commercial service in 2006. The program has the potential to generate revenues between $300 and $400 million including original equipment sales to Airbus and aftermarket spares and services to the airlines over a 20-year period. "The American aerospace industry is playing a major role in the development of the A380, from engines and landing gear to technically-advanced operational systems," said Allan McArtor, Chairman of Airbus North America. "Goodrich joins a growing list of top-notch international manufacturers that will help make the A380 a safe, profitable and truly global aircraft with cutting-edge technology.
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Previous updates are still available:
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*July 15, 2001 *July 8, 2001 *July 1, 2001

*June 24, 2001 *June 17, 2001 *June 10, 2001 *June 3, 2001

*May 27, 2001 *May 20, 2001 *May 13, 2001 *May 6, 2001

*April 29, 2001 *April 22, 2001 *April 15, 2001 *April 8, 2001 *April 1, 2001

*January - March 2001

*January to December 2000 *January to December 1999 *January to December 1998 *January to December 1997 *September to December 1996

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