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UPDATE 
Week ending July 19, 1998
+++ NH90 production proposals submitted by NH Industries +++ Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman cancel merger +++ Midwest Express acquires Fairchild 328JETs +++ Lufthansa cooperates with German railways +++ Investigation board focuses on most likely causes for SOHO failure +++ LSG Holding acquires 50 percent of All Sky Chefs +++ X-33 thermal protection system tests complete +++ Atlas Air Announces Agreement With Lufthansa +++ Boeing contracts Thyssen for aluminium needs +++ News in brief +++

NH90 production proposals submitted by NH Industries
NH Industries gibt Angebote für NH90-Produktion ab

On July 15, NH Industries has submitted its lastest offers for NH90 series preparation work and the production of a first batch of around 150 helicopters to NAHEMA, the government management agency of the French/German/Dutch/Italian programme. Contrary to earlier plans, there are now not just two models of the helicopter for shipborne use and tactical transport, but a dozen or so variations to allow the cash-strapped customers to mix and match their procurement to fit the budgets. The variants are still based on two models, but which now are fitted with just the most basic equipment, to be complemented by kits as applicable to different roles. NH Industry hopes that discussions among the customers will lead to a conclusion of intergovenmental MoUs around the end of the year and contracts with industry by the Paris Air show next June at the latest, to ensure first deliveries from 2003.
Meanwhile, the PT1 will start shipborne trials off La Specia in Italy this week, using a French frigate of the La Fayette class. Customer pilots will be involved.

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Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman cancel merger
Fusionsplan wird nach Widerstand der US-Regierung aufgegeben

On July 16, Lockheed Martin announced that its board of directors has terminated the Corporation's merger agreement, announced in July of 1997, with Northrop Grumman Corporation. In March 1998, the U.S. Department of Justice moved in the Federal District Court of Washington D.C. to block the merger. Since that time the Corporation has worked with the government to achieve a solution to permit the transaction to proceed. This effort has not been successful. "Our inability to reach an acceptable solution, combined with our concern over the litigation with our principal customer, necessitates this decision," said Vance Coffman, Lockheed Martin chairman and chief executive officer. "Continuing the litigation at this point is simply not in the best interests of Lockheed Martin's customers, shareholders or employees."
"Looking ahead, I am very confident about the future of Lockheed Martin," added Coffman. "Our portfolio of businesses continue to be leading competitors in their markets and we intend to continue our strategy of strengthening our positions in the global marketplace."
Kent Kresa, Northrop Gruman chairman, president and chief executive said: "While we believed the merger was in the best interests of our constituencies, Northrop Grumman can and will continue as a strong, independent competitor in the aerospace marketplace. As I have stated before, should this combination not come about, Northrop Grumman is well positioned in our chosen markets, with a strong business posture and solid, long-term growth prospects." Mr. Kresa said the removal of the uncertainty surrounding the merger transaction will now enable Northrop Grumman "to continue on the strategic path we were on prior to the proposed Lockheed Martin merger, and focus on the company's portfolio of high-priority defense and commercial programs while continuing to streamline and enhance the company's competitive posture.

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Midwest Express acquires Fairchild 328JETs
Dornier 328JET für Midwest Express

Midwest Express Holding has become the US launch customer for the 328JET It has ordered five aircraft. The deliveries are scheduled to begin in the spring of 1999, and the first several will be in service by mid-year. The five firm orders include an option for 10 additional aircraft, exercisable after 2001. The aircraft will be operated by Astral Aviation, a wholly own subsidiary of Midwest Express Airlines, under the name Skyway Airlines. Potential use for the jets includes supplementing service on existing Skyway routes, replacing turboprops on those routes that can use the increased capacity, or new routes.

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Lufthansa cooperates with German railways
Züge statt Flüge auf kurzen Strecken

Lufthansa and the Deutsche Bahn AG have signed a memorandum of understanding to transfer short-haul routes from flights to railway from 2001, when new high-speed train routes are ready in Germany. The first destinations are likely Frankfurt to the airports of Cologne/Bonn and Dusseldorf as well as Stuttgart and Nuremberg. Potential passenger volume here is 1,5 million passengers a year, Lufthansa has said. Before opening up the train services, many details like passenger check in and safe baggage transport have to be worked out. Also, schedules have to be closely coordinated to ensure a seamless voyage for connecting travellers.
Lufthansa hopes the new initiative will free it from some of its most loss-prone intra-German routes as well as opening up new slots at Frankfurt for longer-haul flights. The success is not ensured however, as previous experiments have shown.

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Investigation board focuses on most likely causes for SOHO failure
Untersuchung zum Versagen von SOHO ist angelaufen

ESA and NASA engineers, reasoning that over the next two-to-three months the spacecraft's solar panels will increasingly face the Sun and generate power, are continuing their efforts to contact the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. Meanwhile, the ESA/NASA investigation board concentrates its inquiry on three errors that appear to have led to the interruption of communications with SOHO on June 25. Officials remain hopeful that, based on ESA's successful recovery of the Olympus spacecraft after four weeks under similar conditions in 1991, recovery of SOHO may be possible. The SOHO Mission Interruption Joint ESA/NASA Investigation Board has determined that the first two errors were contained in preprogrammed command sequences executed on ground system computers, while the last error was a decision to send a command to the spacecraft in response to unexpected telemetry readings. The spacecraft is controlled by the Flight Operations Team, based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. The first error was in a preprogrammed command sequence that lacked a command to enable an on-board software function designed to activate a gyro needed for control in Emergency Sun Reacquisition (ESR) mode. ESR mode is entered by the spacecraft in the event of anomalies. The second error, which was in a different preprogrammed command sequence, resulted in incorrect readings from one of the spacecraft's three gyroscopes, which in turn triggered an ESR. At the current stage of the investigation, the board believes that the two anomalous command sequences, in combination with a decision to send a command to SOHO to turn off a gyro in response to unexpected telemetry values, caused the spacecraft to enter a series of ESRs, and ultimately led to the loss of control. The efforts of the investigation board are now directed at identifying the circumstances that led to the errors, and at developing a recovery plan should efforts to regain contact with the spacecraft succeed.

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LSG Holding acquires 50 percent of All Sky Chefs
Lufthansa Service kauft Europäische Küchen

On July 16, LSG Lufthansa Service Holding AG, Kriftel, announced it had acquired 50 percent of all European kitchens operated by its American partner, Sky Chefs Inc., Arlington, Texas. The LSG Sky Chefs partnership controls an integrated system of 125 companies with 210 kitchens, approximately 37,000 employees, and total sales of 4.8 billion DM. It serves 260 airline customers throughout the world, making it the market leader in in-flight catering. The acquisition will give LSG Holding greater influence over the management and operation of the 11 kitchens, whose 4,780 employees produce about 65 million in-flight meals per year with a turnover of about one billion DM. The kitchens are located in London (Heathrow and Gatwick), Manchester, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Menorca, Malaga, Girona and Moscow.

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X-33 thermal protection system tests complete
Erprobung des thermischen Schutzes für X-33 abgeschlossen

NASA's F-15B Aerodynamic Flight Facility aircraft has successfully completed flight testing of Thermal Protection System (TPS) materials for the X-33 Advanced Technology Demonstrator at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA. Six flights were flown to test the durability of the TPS materials at flight velocities above the speed of sound, providing data to the X-33 demonstrator program team. The X-33 is scheduled to begin test flights in July 1999. Thermal protection systems are used on spacecraft to protect them during flight, primarily as a "heat shield" during reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Though the X-33 is a sub-orbital technology demonstrator for an eventual commercially developed and operated single-stage-to-orbit launch system, the X-33 will encounter an extreme heating environment similar to what such a vehicle will encounter during orbital spaceflight and atmospheric reentry. The F-15B reached an altitude of 36,000 feet and a top speed of Mach 1.4 during the flight series. No damage or signs of wear from high speed or maneuvering were apparent on any of the TPS materials, providing further confidence to the X-33 team in the ability of the materials to successfully protect the X-33 and follow-on vehicles in the harsh environment in which they will fly.

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Atlas Air Announces Agreement With Lufthansa
Atlas Air: Auftrag für Lufthansa Technik

Atlas Air of the US announced that it has reached an agreement with Lufthansa Technik to maintain Atlas Air's new fleet of 747-400 freighter aircraft. Under the agreement, Lufthansa Technik will provide all required airframe maintenance for Atlas Air's initial order of ten new 747-400 freighters, plus any of its option aircraft, on a "power by the hour" fixed cost basis over the next ten years. The agreement is similar in nature to the agreements Atlas already has in place with KLM for its 747-200 fleet, and with GE Engines for its 747-200 and 747-400 engines.

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Boeing contracts Thyssen for aluminium needs
Thyssen liefert Aluminium für Boeing

Boeing Commercial Airplane Group (BCAG) has announced a new "lean" procurement strategy, in which one distributor and a select number of mills will handle all the commercial airplane manufacturer's requirements for aluminum flat-rolled products and small and intermediate extrusion for the next 10 years. Boeing has contracted with distributor Thyssen, Inc., N.A., Detroit, Mich. - a subsidiary of Thyssen A.G., based in Dusseldorf, Germany - and is finalizing contracts with a select number of mills that will be announced shortly. The value of the 10-year contract with Thyssen is estimated at $300 million.
Boeing will buy the aluminum directly from the mills and then provide it - through Thyssen's subsidiary, TMX - to its external suppliers and internal parts shops. Suppliers will be phased into the new procurement strategy as their current contracts with mill houses and distributors expire. Boeing estimates this will take 2.5 years. Currently Boeing, more than 500 aerostructures suppliers and other aluminum users deal individually with more than 50 distributors, seven flat-rolled product mills and 14 extrusion mills. Deliveries under the new contract will begin in late 1998.

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NEWS IN BRIEF / KURZMELDUNGEN


After the break-up of the AI(R) company, which included British Aerospace, Aerospatiale and Alenia are continuing with their ATR turboprop family. Antoine Bouvier was appointed President and CEO of the joint company. He comes from Aerospatiale, where he was responsible for the ATR business unit, improving drastically the financial situation of the programme.
+++
Germany and China have concluded a more liberal air services agreement, that will foster the traffic growth between the two countries. New airlines will be allowed to enter the scene, and code-share agreements will be possible. Weekly passenger flights will be increased from 11 to 18 in 2001, and freight services go up from 2 to 8. Also one more airport will be added to the points allowed to fly.
+++
KLM has confirmed that it is discussing a possible future partnership with Cathay Pacific. The Dutch national carrier is considering several options in the region to supplement its existing arrangements with Malaysian Airlines and Japan Air System, with strong interest being expressed by the financially troubled Garuda Indonesia airline on a possible deal.
+++
Air Algerie, the flag carrier of the North African nation of Algeria, has ordered 10 Next-Generation 737s, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group (BCAG) confirmed. The airline selected seven 737-800s and three 737-600s to replace ist existing 727 and 737-200 aircraft. Delivery of the seven 737-800s is scheduled for 2000 and 2001, with the three 737-600s scheduled for 2002. The airline has a fleet of 39 airplanes.
+++
On July 14, Bombardier Aerospace announced that the Department of Civil Protection of the Government of Italy has signed a contract for two Canadair 415 amphibious aircraft and extended an option for two additional waterbombers. The aircraft will enter into service later this month. This order, the second in 1998, will increase the Italian Canadair 415 firefighting fleet to a total of ten turboprop aircraft, and will increase to 12 if the option is exercised.
+++
A T-38C Talon jet trainer, with its new Boeing digital cockpit upgrade, made its first flight from Williams Gateway Airport July 8. The aircraft, tail number 64-197, lifted off runway 30L at 4:10 p.m. for its one hour, 10 minute flight. This T-38 is one of two in an engineering and manufacturing development phase of the U.S. Air Force T-38 Avionics Upgrade Program. Through that program, the Aerospace Support business unit of Boeing and its major avionics integration subcontractor, Israel Aircraft Industries Lahav Division, are installing a comprehensive avionics package to provide a reliable, cost-effective training environment similar to current and future generation fighter/bombers.
+++
The Federal Aviation Administration has levied a $5 million fine against America West AIrlines for a long list of safety violations. The Phoenix-based carrier will pay half the fine and the rest will be suspended if the airline complies with the terms of the agreement. Several violations of safety rules prompted the largest vine in FAA history. Seventeen Airbus jets overdue for structural inspections made 41,000 flights, 737 and 757 model jets took off with improperly secured cargo and a 757 was placed in service without a required repair. America West will remain on troubled air carrier status for 12 months. The man in charge at America West says the agreement with the FAA is not all bad news. Airline president and CEO Richard Goodmanson says the settlement gives the airline the opportunity to do things better. Goodoanson adds America West has always been among the safest in the industry and the plan affirms the airline's commitment to safety.
+++
Dusseldorf Airport has reported a turnover of 546,9 million DM for 1997, und thus 3,5 per cent more than in 1995. The 1996 results were lower due to the fire in the terminal that year. Passenger throughput went up 7,7 per cent to 15,5 million, while 183979 take-off and landings were counted. Due to extraordinary expenses, Dusseldorf was still in the red, with a loss of 99 million DM. The management is hopefull to return to profits this year.
+++
Bremen Airport has opened its Terminal 3, thus ending a ten-year improvement programme for the "Airport 2000". Since 1989, nearly 230 million DM have been invested in new terminals, parking garages and office space. It is hoped that the airport will become focal point for new service companies.
+++
GEC-Marconi of the UK and Italian-based Alenia Difesa have concluded their negotiations for the formation of Alenia Marconi Systems, a joint company in the missiles, air traffic control and radar area. It will have a turnover of nearly one billion pounds per year.
+++

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Previous updates are still available:
Die News der letzten Wochen ist nach wie vor abrufbar:

*July 12, 1998

*June 28, 1998 *June 21, 1998 *June 14, 1998 *June 7, 1998

*May 31, 1998 *May 24, 1998 *May 17, 1998 *May 10, 1998 *May 3, 1998

*April 26, 1998 *April 19, 1998 *April 5, 1998

*January to March 1998 *January to December 1997 *September to December 1996

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Last updated July 17, 1998
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