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UPDATE
Week ending June 15, 1997
+++ Disagreement on Airbus restructure continues +++ Continental makes Boeing its exclusive supplier +++ British Airways unveils new livery +++ Hughes starts HISAR marketing tour +++ NASA tries to reduce cost of air travel +++ Air Littoral becomes new Lufthansa partner +++ Weather piercing radar may reduce air traffic delays +++ News in brief +++

Disagreement on Airbus restructure continues
Partner immer noch uneins über Airbus-Umstrukturierung

The Airbus partners still have fundamentally different views of how to restructure the consortium to better compete with arch-rival Boeing. This was underlined by recent statements of Aéospatiale chairman Yves Michot, who claimed that agreement had been reached on a European hodling company, only to be sharply rebutted the next day by Dasa who says that intensive talks are continuing.
Michot had briefed reporters in the run-up to the Paris Air Show. He said that an Airbus limited company would manage the civil aircraft factories, which would remain in the hands of Aerospatiale, Dasa, British Aerospace and Casa of Spain. This is counter to the wishes of Germany and the UK, which want to transform the consortium into a fully fledged company with full ownership of its factories. In this context, the retention of a loose holding is no improvement, says Dr. Norbert Lammerd, aerospace coordinator for the German government.

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Continental makes Boeing its exclusive supplier
Exklusivvertrag zwischen Continental und Boeing

Continental Airlines has signed a letter of intent to buy five Boeing 777-200 aircraft and 30 new-generation Boeing 767-400ER, and make Boeing its exclusive jet supplier for 20 years. A Continental news release says, "Continental requested a business offer from Boeing, which would include the requirements commitment in order to obtain more favorable terms and flexibility." Terms of the Continental agreement were not disclosed. The New York Times says the order would be worth more than $3 billion based on list prices. But, Continental is likely to have received a deep discount for signing such a long-term agreement, as American and Delta did.
The order remains subject to the negotiation and signing of a final contract and has options for additional 777 and 767 future purchases. The order comes in addition to five 777 aircraft that the Houston-based airline already has agreed to buy from Boeing. The new widebody aircraft will replace Continental's fleet of six DC10-10 and 31 DC10-30 aircraft, which will be retired as the new aircraft are delivered. The new aircraft also will be used to expand the airline's international and transcontinental service.

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British Airways unveils new livery
Neue Farben für British Airways

On June 10, British Airways has unveiled its new livery, which is intendend to give the airline a new international touch. But the new paint is touted as just the first step in a $10 billion programme to introduce new services, products, aircraft, facilities and training during the next three years. It follows $320 million of investment during the past two years in the airline's premium brands--First, Club World and Club Europe. Forty-three new aircraft will join the airline's fleet during the next three years, including 29 Boeing 747-400s, nine 777s and five 757s.

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Hughes starts HISAR marketing tour
Neues Radar auf Vorführtour

In the run-up to the Paris Air Show, Hughes Aircraft has launched a ten month worldwide marketing tour with its HISAR - a synthetic aperture radar for maritime patrol, border surveillance and remote sensing applications. FLUG REVUE was on board the Beech King Air 200 demonstrator for a two-hour flight from Le Bourget to get a first hand look of the system, which offers resolutions down to 1,8 metres in spot mode. Cruising at 27000 ft over northeast France, landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe or Notre Dame could be easily discerned on the crisp display. Air traffic control re-routings also allowed a good demonstration of the rapid replanning possible with the Windows-like user interface.
HISAR is based on Hughes'extensive experience with synthetic aperture radars like the ASARS 2 in the U-2. It introduces lots of commercial of the shelf components to get the price down to four million US-Dollars for the basic system. Options like FLIR, Long-Range Optical Sensors or Signals Intelligence can be added from the large portfolio of the company. Although a King Air is used as a demonstrator, other plattforms are possible. The US Army is already using a HISAR derivative in a Dash 7 in Korea, and the Teledyne Ryan Global Star UAV is also to be fitted with the system. Hughes reports great interest not only with the military but also with civil agencies and expects the first international order for HISAR this year to start recouping the big investment the company has made in development.

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NASA tries to reduce cost of air travel
Weniger Widerstand soll Kosten senken

NASA researchers are conducting experiments to improve the fuel efficiency of commercial aircraft and hope to eventually reduce cost of air travel by 50 percent. NASA Dryden Flight Research Center engineer Glenn Gilyard says researchers are "trying to achieve savings based on the difference between what the manufacturer designed the airplane to be and waht teh airplane actually is." He says the bottom line comes down to how much fuel goes into an airplane over the course of a year. Reducing an aircraft's aerodynamic drag can save fuel and reduce costs. Drag is the force resulting from air pressure and friction that resists a craft as it flies through the air. Project officials are hoping to achieve drag reductions of up to 3 percent, which could save an annual $140 million in commercial fuel costs.
NASA says the potential fuel cost savings for a single MD-11 in regular service could be $130000 per year and up to $150000 per year for a Boeing 747. The drag reduction tests mark the beginning of programs that NASA says will reflect the enabling technology for one of ist major goals: to reduce the cost of air travel by 25 percent within 10 years and by 50 percent within 20 years.

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Air Littoral becomes new Lufthansa partner
Lufthansa unterzeichnet Kooperationsvertrag mit Air Littoral

On June 12, French regional airline Air Littoral and Lufthansa have signed a co-operation agreement covering marketing, sales and customer service aspects. Main aim of the deal is the establichment of code-share flights from September. Air Littoral will thus offer French domestic services with LH flight numbers, as well as serving destinations in Italy and Spain. In total, code-share services to 26 destinations are planned, with most flights departing from the Air Littoral hubs at Montpeiller and Nizza. Air Littoral has 1200 personell and operates 15 ATR-42-500 tuboprops as well as 14 Canadair RegionalJets and six Fokker 70. Most of the aircraft are brand new.

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Weather piercing radar may reduce air traffic delays
Millimeterwellen-Radar für Schlechtwetterlandungen

Air traffic delays due to poor visibility caused by weather can be virtually eliminated if technology being developed by U.S. industry and government looks as good in the air as ist does on the ground. NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, is working with a consortium led by TRW Space and Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, California, that is preparing to demonstrate in flight a weather-piercing camera that has allowed researchers to see through fog, smoke and clouds. System checkout was due to begin in late may, followed by 60 hours of test and demonstration flights in September.
The camera "sees" in the milimeter wave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, a portion that is invisible to the human eye. It produces video images that enable a pilot to discern features like runways, obstacles on the horizon. These features are sufficient to safely land, take-off, roll-out and taxi at any airline terminal in the country - not jus the three dozen or so major airports that have costly systems to aid in low visibility approach and landings. The camera is a passive sensor that does not emit signals in an airport environment, allowing multiple equipped aircraft to operate simultaneously on the ground without risk of interference.
"This sensor program directly supports NASA's new goal to safely triple capacity at our nation's coomercial airports within the next ten years", says Tom Campbell , head of Langley's Electromagnetic Research Branch. The test-aircraft to be fitted with the camera and the new "milimeter-wave-invisible" radome is a one-of-a-kind Air Force C-135-C. Once installed, the camera will generate video images of the forward scene in low-visibility conditions. These images will be displayed on a see-through heads-up display suspended between the pilot and the windscreen.

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NEWS IN BRIEF / KURZMELDUNGEN

A German air force Tornado fihgter-bomber crashed in New Mexico on June 11. Accoridng to the Luftwaffe, both crew members ejected safely.
+++
On June 11, American Airlines confirmed an order of seven Boeing 777-200IGW (Increased Gross Weight) aircraft, to be delivered in early 1999 and 2000, as well as purchase rights for additional 777s in late 1999, 2000, and 2001.American has selected the IGW aircraft to replace MD-11s that American plans to retire over the next five years. The IGWs have considerably greater range than the MD-11s, and they will better position American for Pacific growth.
+++
Dragonair has resumed normal services with its fleet of Airbus A330-300 aircraft powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, following the successful testing and certification of modified gearbox parts for the engines. Concerns over the reliability of these gearbox parts led to the temporary suspension of A330 operations on 24th May. The modification, which has also been certified by the UK Civil Aviation Authority and the French Airworthiness Authority, the DGAC, has been shown to prevent the problem of inadequate oil flow to a gearbox bearing, which led to the in-flight shutdowns experienced by Dragonair and Cathay Pacific Airways.
+++
The McDonnell Douglas MD Explorer helicopters are flying again. The company asked the Federal Aviation Administration to ground the helicopters on May 29, after a broken adjustable collective link was discovered on a customer-owned aircraft. After completing design analysis of a replacement part, McDonnell Douglas decided to proceed with the manufacturing process immediately. Erv Hunter, vice president of the company's light helicopter division praised the manufacturer of the part, Eason & Waller Manufacturing and Precision Grinding, of Phoenix, Ariz., as performing beyond all expectations to supply replacements.
+++
Boeing Business Jets, a joint venture formed less than a year ago by The Boeing Company and General Electric Co., announced an airplane order from Greg Norman, the world's No. 1 golfer. Norman will serve in an ambassadorial role for Boeing Business Jets and the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group. In this role, he will participate in a variety of sales, advertising and promotional activities. In addition to the order from Norman, Boeing Business Jets has sold 14 additional jets so far this year, increasing the official
business jet order total to 18.
+++
EUTELSAT and COM.NET (a wholly owned subsidiary of Nuova Telespazio (part of Gruppo STET/Telecom Italy) announced the first satellite service in Europe for internet access with speeds up to 40 Mbit/s per transponder, based on the DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) open standard for digital television. The service offers a very efficient access to multimedia services via the internet,says EUTELSAT. It will be available in summer 1997 and requires a DVB-MPEG2 card for the user's PC and a 60 cm antenna. On the transmission side a normal modem and telephone line are sufficient.
+++

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Previous updates are still available:

PunktJune 8, 1997 PunktJune 1, 1997

PunktMay 25, 1997 PunktMay 18, 1997 PunktMay 11, 1997 PunktMay 4, 1997

PunktApril 20, 1997 PunktApril 13, 1997

PunktMarch 23, 1997 PunktMarch 16, 1997 PunktMarch 9, 1997 PunktMarch 2, 1997

PunktFebruary 23, 1997 PunktFebruary 16, 1997

Punkt January 26, 1997 PunktJanuary 19, 1997 PunktJanuary 12, 1997 PunktJanuary 5, 1997

PunktSeptember to December 1996

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Last updated June 12, 1997
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