en-us Sun, 20 May 2012 16:15:54 -0500 Sun, 20 May 2012 16:15:54 -0500 www.jgiquality.com http://www.jgiquality.com/rss/JGI_News.xml http://www.jgiquality.com/rss/JGI_News.xml info@jgiquality.com 60 News articles from Johnson Gage & Inspection SEATTLE - Boeing said Tuesday that it is again boosting plans for production of the 737 jet in 2012, anticipating long-term growth in demand for the commercial plane.Boeing said it will make 35 per month beginning in early 2012. The jet maker says customers are exercising order options and placing new orders for the plane. Boeing already raised its production forecast in May, saying at the time that it expected to produce 34 737s in May instead of the originally planned 31.5 planes. The Chicago-based company plans to work with suppliers over the next 18 months to prepare for the higher output. The increase in production is not expected to impact 2010 financial results. The 737 is the world's most widely flown passenger jet. In morning trading, shares of Boeing rose 1.82, or 2.8 percent, to 66.64. Original article posted by the. Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article95.html#1337548554 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article95.html TAMPA - A small white plane with a blue stripe sat in the center of a football field, just past the track, tipped over on its left side but, remarkably, in one piece Tuesday night. The pilot had just taken off from Tampa International Airport en route to Fort Lauderdale for a courier company when the single-engine Cessna developed mechanical trouble around 8:40 p.m., Tampa police said. Thinking quickly, Eric P. Stasiowski landed the plane on the dark football field behind Stewart Middle School in the 1100 block of E Spruce Street, said Lt. Danielle Spradlin, a spokeswoman for Tampa Fire Rescue. Stasiowski, of Wellsley, Mass., was not injured, police said. He is a licensed pilot, flight instructor and ground instructor, according to Federal Aviation Administration records. He has 12 years of flight experience, Spradlin said. The Cessna 210L fixed-wing. single-engine plane was registered to an Orlando-based company called Flight Express Inc. Spradlin said Stasiowski was fortunate to have found a safe place to land in a densely populated residential area. He's a little shaken up, but I think he's realized he was lucky to find a place like this, she said. Spradlin said though the plane had a small fuel leak that forced it to land, there was no environmental exposure. The field may reopen as soon as the plane is hauled away this morning. The incident is another oddity this week for the Stewart Middle campus. Early Monday, a 7-foot alligator was spotted outside classroom buildings and chased inside a hallway at the school, where it was captured. See Wed, 09 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article94.html#1337548555 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article94.html WICHITA, Kan. - The chairman and CEO of Cessna Aircraft Co. has been named to the U.S. Transportation Department's Future of Aviation Advisory Committee. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the appointment of Jack Pelton on Wednesday. Cessna says Pelton is the only member of the committee representing general aviation. The committee was established in March, with members drawn from a variety of fields including labor, commercial aviation and airport management. The panel will make recommendations to ensure the competitiveness of the U.S. aviation industry and to address transportation needs. Cessna is a unit of Textron Inc. See . Thu, 13 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article88.html#1337548556 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article88.html The analysts said that they see a recovery in Cessna orders during the second half of 2010. Goldman predicts a 37% upside to the current stock price with their 30.00 price target and said that Textron remains more levered to a cyclical recovery than most other firms. Textron hit 21.45 during trading on Tuesday. See Wed, 19 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article87.html#1337548557 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article87.html Boeing has won a 1.7 billion contract from the Federal Aviation Administration to create the Next-Generation Air Transportation System.One of the goals of the system, also known as NextGen, will be to update the current air traffic control system from its traditional radar-based tracking to one that uses a GPS-based technology called ADS-B, the company said Thursday. Such a move is designed to deliver greater accuracy and safety in managing the growing traffic in the skies. To help develop the new system, Boeing said it will rely on air traffic management models and simulations. To see the, please visit cnet.com. Fri, 04 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article92.html#1337548558 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article92.html GREENWICH, Conn., Jun 14, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- CitationAir by Cessna (http://www.citationair.com), a leader in private jet transportation solutions, today announced an exclusive relationship with British Airways, the United Kingdom's largest carrier, to offer premium travel benefits to passengers on both sides of the Atlantic. The newly launched PrivateConnect(TM) service will provide British Airways customers access to CitationAir's entire fleet of Cessna Citation aircraft, offered at a pay-per-hour rate with no contract or long-term commitment.As part of the new association, CitationAir customers will receive complimentary chauffeured transportation from the FBO to the British Airways terminal when flying internationally on BA. Steve O'Neill, CitationAir's Founder and CEO, said: CitationAir's focus is to align with like-minded, world-class organizations that share our passion for excellence and our high standards for extraordinary customer experience. We are extremely pleased to be launching this new program with British Airways and look forward to extending our offering to their customers. PrivateConnect will be available to British Airways Executive Club members, passengers who have flown the airline in the previous 12 months, and organizations that hold a corporate account with the airline. All trips going to or from a British Airways flight will include escorted transportation from the British Airways terminal to the CitationAir aircraft, or vice versa. Robert Boyle, British Airways' Director of Strategy and Business Units, said: Now we can offer our customers a seamless service to fly when they want and where they want, to almost any destination within the United States, Caribbean, southern Canada and Mexico in the luxury and privacy of their very own private jet, provided by CitationAir and the Cessna Aircraft Company, both leaders in the private jet industry. CitationAir, which has been recognized by Robb Report as Best of the Best in Flight Services for seven consecutive years, offers a full complement of products from Jet Cards and Jet Shares, to Jet Management and Corporate Solutions. About British Airways British Airways is one of the world's largest, and the UK's biggest international scheduled airline, flying to over 300 destinations at convenient times, to the best located airports. In 2007/08 the airline carried more than 33 million customers on 245 aircraft. British Airways offers a wide range of worldwide destinations, flights, hotels, car rental and experiences. Travelers can save time and money with ba.com when booking an ATOL protected package holiday. Passengers are offered added peace of mind to their holiday plans and the security of travelling with British Airways. British Airways plc constantly seeks to exceed customers' expectations, both in terms of the value for money and quality of the service provided. Website: http://www.ba.com/ About CitationAir CitationAir is an industry leader offering individuals and businesses the advantages of private jet travel through its innovative programs, including Jet Card, Jet Shares, Jet Management and Corporate Solutions products. CitationAir flies Cessna's popular Citation aircraft exclusively--the Citation Bravo, Citation CJ3, Citation XLS, and Citation Sovereign--which are serviced and maintained at the factory-level. CitationAir operates the youngest fleet in the air by the best pilots in the industry, while setting the standard for safety and unparalleled customer service. CitationAir's parent company is Cessna Aircraft Company, a Textron (TXT 19.87, +0.57, +2.95%) company. More information about CitationAir and its offerings are available at www.citationair.com. About Cessna Aircraft Company Cessna, a Textron (TXT 19.87, +0.57, +2.95%) company, is the world's leading general aviation company, based on unit sales, with five major lines of business: Citation business jets, Caravan single-engine turboprops, Cessna single-engine piston aircraft, aftermarket services and lift solutions by CitationAir. In 2009, Cessna delivered 754 aircraft, including 289 Citation business jets, and reported revenues of about 3.3 billion. Since the company was originally established in 1927, more than 192,000 Cessna airplanes have been delivered around the world, including more than 6,000 Citations, making it the largest fleet of business jets in the world. More information about Cessna Aircraft Company is available at www.cessna.com. See original article at. Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article96.html#1337548559 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article96.html Wichita, Kansas - Aircraft dealers and representatives braved the heat Thursday to showcase their products at the Great Plains Air Expo at Jabara Airport, but they didn't seem to mind. The expo was a good way for pilots, operators and businesses to view a variety of aircraft in one spot, they said. Exhibitors hoped the show would help generate sales leads. You can't catch a fish until you cast a lure, Hawker Beechcraft demonstration pilot John Guidry said while showing a new, 6.7 million nine-passenger King Air 350I. Steve Dunne, president of Midwest Corporate Aviation Aircraft sales and a Cessna dealer, agreed. All it takes is a spark, Dunne said. All we can do is put it out there and hope it takes hold. Planes built by Cessna Aircraft, Hawker Beechcraft, Pilatus Aircraft, Piper Aircraft and Diamond Aircraft and Aviat Aircraft were on display. The expo was developed last year by a consortium of Midwest aircraft dealers. It was the first time to be held in Wichita. A similar expo Wednesday in Olathe attracted 290 attendees. At the shows, the manufacturers work together. We share leads back and forth, said Kimberly Patrick, coordinator of the expo and marketing director of the Kansas City Aviation Center in Olathe. KCAC sells Piper, Pilatus and Diamond aircraft in the Midwest and had the planes on display. If one company doesn't have a plane suited for a potential customer, it will pass the lead on to others, Patrick said while sitting inside a Pilatus PC-12. It's good for everyone, she said. With the recession, aircraft sales have been slow. But exhibitors said there are some positive signs. I'm starting to do more demo flights, said Jim Roth, Cessna Aircraft regional sales manager for single-engine aircraft. Roth said he thinks the market has bottomed out. Still, he said, we're not where we need to be. I think people just need to feel comfortable about the economy and what's happening right now. Hawker Beechcraft's Guidry is seeing the market pick back up. It's more of a steady incline rather than a spike, he said, a pace he said he thinks will be better for the economy. Patrick said phone calls and e-mails to KCAC have increased. The center is doing more aircraft demonstrations and maintenance and selling more fuel, she said. In April, we started to see kind of a turnaround, Patrick said. Still, it's going to be 2011 before aviation really starts its recovery. See. Fri, 18 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article97.html#1337548560 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article97.html Wichita, Kansas - The past five years have been busy for Spirit AeroSystems. It's been a whirlwind, said Buck Buchanan, Spirit's chief operating officer. Boeing sold its long-standing Wichita commercial aircraft division to Onex Corp. on June 17, 2005. We were a brand-new company with about 75 years of experience, Buchanan said. Spirit had to establish a sales and marketing department and move from a Boeing cost center to a company with a profit-and-loss statement, Buchanan said. What was new to us was the business piece, he said. At the time of the divestiture, Spirit employed about 7,600 people in Wichita. It now employs 10,300 in Wichita and 14,000 worldwide. The company acknowledged the five-year milestone Thursday and will hold an open house for employees in the fall. In the past five years, Spirit has acquired a plant in Prestwick, Scotland, and added one in Malaysia. It's opening a new plant next month in North Carolina and is building one in France. The company has won business from Sikorsky, Gulfstream, Rolls Royce, Mitsubishi, Airbus and Bombardier. One of its main goals is to digest the new work it's taken on, Buchanan said. It also will bid on other new business, he said. New programs help employees feel confident, said Brent Allen, who builds 777 strut and nacelles and serves as vice president of the Machinists union Local Lodge 839. You get used to seeing things with the Boeing stamp on it, Allen said. But when we see more names on things we actually touch, that tells us we're growing. It gives you a real sense of security. A main goal moving forward is to keep the company healthy and the team intact, Buchanan said. A healthy business takes a great team, and a great team takes a healthy business. See. Fri, 18 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article98.html#1337548561 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article98.html The first GE-powered Boeing 787 Dreamliner has completed its first flight after a 3 hour, 48 minute flight over Washington state. The planes use GEnx-1B engines - ZA005. Boeing workers and GE executives gathered in Seattle to welcome the aircraft following the flight. Captain Mike Bryan said that the aircraft handled like he expected. It was no different than any other 787 flight he's flown over the last several months, he added, noting that it was smooth, just like they planned and excellent. The other captain on the flight was Mike Carriker. This inaugural flight for the Genx-1B engine comes after the first flight of the GEnx-2B engine in February. Used on the Boeing 747-8, these engines have logged more than 1,800 flying hours. Boeing vice president and general manager for the 787 program Scott Fancher says that they are pleased to introduce the 5th Dreamliner to the flight test fleet and to begin flight testing the GE engines. Plans for the 5th Dreamliner called for tests of the GE engine package to demonstrate that the changes made with the new engine wouldn't affect the handling characteristics of the aircraft, he added. Boeing believes that the 6th and final Dreamliner will join the flight-test program by the end of next month. These will also be powered by GE engines. Dreamliner program spokeswoman Yvonne Leach says that the remaining flight test program will include simulations and tests for being struck by lightning, but most of this will be done on the ground. They won't intentionally seek lightning from the sky, she added. See. Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article100.html#1337548562 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article100.html The first thing you notice once you're inside Cessna Aircraft's Model 162 Skycatcher is its roomy interior. Cessna's newest plane might be its smallest and lightest, but it doesn't feel like it. Kirby Ortega, Cessna's chief pilot for piston engine flight operations, took me for a flight on Monday to demonstrate the airplane. It was a breezy and clear morning when we took off from Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, turned west and headed toward Cheney Lake. After climbing to 4,500 feet Ortega demonstrated the plane's easy handling characteristics in stalls and in slow flight - two important parts of flight training. Cessna introduced the Skycatcher to encourage people to learn to fly. It's entire design was done with flight training in mind. Cessna has orders for more than 1,000 Skycatchers, which list for 112,250. The one we flew Monday is leased to Kansas Aviation, a subsidiary of Yingling Aviation. It was the first one in the country available for flight training or rental. We believe the Skycatcher will be key to developing the next generation of pilots who will be needed to fill the pipeline for the aviation industry in the decades ahead, said Kansas Aviation chief flight instructor Dave Tiday. The Skycatcher weighs less, cruises faster and, at 5.5 gallons an hour, consumes less fuel than a Cessna 152, the company's out-of-production two-seat trainer. The Skycatcher has a maximum range of 540 miles, cruises up to 136 mph and holds 24 gallons of fuel. The cabin of the two-seat Skycatcher is as wide as Cessna's much larger 206 single-engine airplane. Its interior is kept simple, which keeps the aircraft's weight down, Ortega said. The plane is controlled by a control stick, rather than a yoke, which gives the cockpit more room. The extra room makes for a comfortable flight. The Skycatcher is equipped with a Garmin G300 avionics system, which provides a variety of information such as airspeed and altitude, horizon and heading, weight and balance, oil pressure, terrain and airport frequencies. Near the end of the flight, the avionics system gave an avoidance warning as we approached three tall towers northwest of the airport. It's the height of technology, Ortega said of the avionics. He has crossed the country three times in a Skycatcher, including two trips from Wichita to Florida to have a Skycatcher on display at air shows. He also flew from San Diego to Tampa, Fla. After landing, we taxied with the two gull-wing doors open, enjoying the breeze along the way. This is just fun flying, Ortega said. See. Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article101.html#1337548563 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article101.html GENEVA - Airbus called Monday for talks between the United States and the European Union to end the trans-Atlantic fight over subsidies to aircraft manufacturers, saying it was the only way to end the costly six-year dispute. The call came as the World Trade Organization prepares to publish its ruling Wednesday on a complaint brought by Washington that European governments illegally loaned Airbus billions to develop aircraft, including its flagship A380 superjumbo. Airbus spokeswoman Maggie Bergsma said that negotiations were the only reasonably possible end to this dispute. Rival Boeing insisted a settlement in the case was out of the question. The WTO has now ruled in the U.S. case against European government subsidies to Airbus and the findings will be made public shortly, said Boeing spokesman Charlie Miller. Rulings by the WTO are not negotiable by the parties involved, and compliance is important to ensure a viable world trading system. Confidential copies of the 1,000-page ruling have been circulating for several weeks, with supporters of both sides claiming victory - though trade officials have refused to confirm the outcome. Bergsma said Airbus was confident the ruling will deem the loans the company received from European governments legal in principle. But she acknowledged that in practice some of the loans that went toward the A380 program may have breached global trade rules, meaning the WTO panel could declare them to be illegal subsidies. There is no doubt that both sides will appeal elements of this report, Bergsma said. Miller said he understood from talking to officials familiar with the ruling that every instance of launch aid that was challenged was found to be an illegal subsidy. Such loans - which come from European governments such as Britain, France, Germany and Spain where Airbus planes are made - include infrastructure support and funding for research and development. The loans are virtually risk free since Airbus repays them only as new planes are sold. With a similar ruling on U.S. government aid to Boeing due to be released to the parties in a matter of weeks, observers say both sides have an interest in ending their tit-for-tat dispute that began in 2004. Chicago-based Boeing has benefited from billions of dollars in funding from NASA and the U.S. Defense Department to develop military technology that was later modified for civilian planes. Obviously the focus this week is Airbus, but if you look at any commercial airplane program in the world, they all get subsidies, said David Pritchard, a trade specialist at the University at Buffalo. With China a serious contender to become a third force in the market for large commercial planes, it makes little sense to prolong the costly fight between Washington and Brussels, he said. Trade rules need to be totally revamped. Individual case-by-case filing doesn't work in such a dynamic industry, Pritchard said. At the end of the day, what really needs to happen is to g et this thing away from the WTO. Europe and the United States need to sit down and hammer out an agreement. The two sides have a history of agreeing to limits on subsidies in the aviation industry. But a 1992 deal to that effect ended 12 years later when Washington pulled out and launched its complaint at the WTO. Brussels swiftly responded with a countersuit. Bergsma said Airbus was ready to talk. Unlike Boeing and the U.S. trade representative, who have consistently sought to require European surrender as a prerequisite, we have never tried to impose conditions on those negotiations, she said. We will not now begin to require such conditions by trying to dictate how or with whom they will take place. Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article102.html#1337548564 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article102.html Machinists union members at Spirit AeroSystems rejected the company's offer of a 10-year contract on Friday, but lacked the votes required for a strike. As a result, members ratified the contract by default. Of those voting, 57 percent rejected the contract. Fifty-eight percent voted to strike, falling short of the two-thirds required for a work stoppage. The union's negotiating team recommended members accept the contract. But this membership decides, said Steve Rooney, Machinists union District 70 president and directing business representative. The results send a signal to the company that the trust is not there, Rooney said. It's something this company is going to have to work on. Spirit spokesman Ken Evans said that the contract is the start of a long journey between the company and the union. We know this new model of working together is a big change for everyone, Evans said. Now is the time for company, union and employees - together - to make this collaborative relationship a reality. This is so critical for our future, and for Wichita aerospace. The future is too important not to get this right. The union represents about 6,000 Spirit hourly workers. Spirit's total Wichita work force is 10,500. The union and company had hailed the negotiations as historic - offering job security through labor peace. Job security was the union's No. 1 issue. Many who voted at Century II on Friday said the contract's 10-year duration was the biggest issue. Another was that it gives guaranteed pay raises of only 1 percent in four of the 10 years of the contract. The raises won't apply to those at the top of their pay scale. Lila Shafer, a painter who's worked at Spirit and Boeing 24 years, said she voted no on the contract, mainly because of its 10-year duration, and yes to strike. I think we should have (gone) five years, Shafer said. That's plenty long enough. She supported a work stoppage to get a better deal. We're never ready, but I've got to do what I feel within my own self, she said. Rocky Trammell, a team leader who's worked at Boeing and Spirit 27 years, said he voted in favor of the agreement. I feel it is a fair contract, Trammell said. There was nothing taken away. We're not Boeing anymore. We don't have the golden goose behind us. The company has to succeed, or we don't. In the contract, Spirit AeroSystems also agrees to keep major manufacturing operations in Wichita for 10 years. It's got the strongest job security language in the industry, Machinists spokesman Bob Wood said this week. This is an important thing for our city. Union officials have said they hoped the contract would serve as a model in future negotiations with other companies, and bring stability and more opportunities. Aerospace analyst Cai von Rumohr with Cowen and Co. called the contract's length a positive development. It would make Spirit's costs more predictable, making the Wichita plant more competitive when bidding on new work, he said. Experts say eliminating the risk of a strike can also help win work because potential customers won't worry about parts delays. A strike would also have hurt Boeing, Spirit's largest customer. Spirit builds parts of every Boeing jetliner, including the entire fuselage of its popular 737. A two-month strike by Boeing Machinists in September 2008 meant 72 fewer deliveries by Spirit and 504 million in lower revenue. That led to Spirit going to a three-day work week for more than three months. Spirit shares closed Friday at 20.38, unchanged from Thursday. Gary Mills, a Spirit material processor, said he had voted against the contract and to strike. Mills was waiting at the Machinists district office on South Meridian on Friday evening. When he heard the outcome, Mills said he accepted the members' choice. That's what they wanted, that's what we get, he said. I support whatever the membership wants to do. Some of the agreement's highlights include: Flexibility to implement temporary furloughs, alternative work schedules, additional training, insourcing and short work weeks as a way to prevent layoffs, should customer demand change1 percent wage increases in four of the 10 years of the contractImprovements in cost-of-living adjustmentsIncentive awards based on the same criteria as Spirit managementCash payments based on reduction of scrap and reworkLong-term incentives of 150 shares of Spirit stock in the contract's first year and lump-sum cash payments in five additional yearsThe addition of a zero-cost health care plan; employees' share of the costs increases from 10 to 20 percent over the life of the contractAn early retirement optionIncreases in pensions and life insuranceAlternative work weeks for certain areasA lifetime of recall rights and seniority after a layoffA clause that keeps the contract in place should the company be sold. Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article103.html#1337548565 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article103.html Labor experts can understand the reasons Machinists union members were hesitant to accept a 10-year contract from Spirit AeroSystems when they voted June 25. But in the big picture, the contract can be a game changer for the aerospace industry, they say. I don't think I've ever seen a 10-year contract, Gary Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., said. Very seldom will a union lock itself into a long-term contract. There's a lot of unpredictability in that length - for the union and the company - he said. The whole industry - airline and airline production - is going through a period of dramatic upheaval right now, he said. How well the airlines do is how well the airline producers do. Leeham Co. analyst Scott Hamilton said long-term contracts have a lot of merit. If there is job protection in the contract to provide a little bit more stability through ups and downs, that's certainly worth a consideration, Hamilton said. Right now job stability would be a pretty doggone important thing. Fifty-seven percent of Machinists union members voting rejected Spirit's offer of the agreement late last month. But 58 percent voted in favor of a strike, shy of the two-thirds majority needed for a walkout. Without the votes, members accepted the contract by default. The agreement includes 1 percent raise increases in four of the contract years, cost of living increases and the potential of incentive awards. It also provides for flexibility and a variety of options before the company would resort to layoffs, should the need arise. Spirit also agreed to keep major manufacturing operations in Wichita for the contract's duration. Machinists international president Tom Buffenbarger acknowledges that members are still digesting the contract and that some remain upset. The thing that upsets them is the 10-year deal, Buffenbarger said. But I'm afraid that's what it's going to take to stabilize the industry. If our economy is going to experience severe roils, then people are going to need some stability. The best thing the union can do is to help the company survive and grow in order to protect the members. The best thing we can do is make sure they've got a job, Buffenbarger said. In the end, he thinks members will discover it's a pretty rich package, he said. We feel pretty good, one, that we've protected them, and two, we think there's going to be good things in store for them, he said. If errors were made, they were made trying to protect those members, he said. I feel the company was as sincere in this as the union was sincere, Buffenbarger said. Contract's potential effects Experts say a long-term contract without threat of a work stoppage could go far with customers and potential customers. It also could help when Spirit decides where to put future programs. It certainly seems to me that you're generally better off to go with an experienced work force whenever you have production stability and some semblance of cost control, said Hamilton, the Leeham Co. analyst. That's the challenge Boeing faces at its new 787 plant in Charleston, S.C., and Spirit will face at its just-opened plant in Kinston, N.C., he said. For example, it's the experienced Boeing workers in Washington who've been bailing Boeing out on all the trouble that's been coming up, on the 787, Hamilton said. Spirit's contract could be precedent setting in other negotiations around the country. It could play a part in upcoming talks between the union and Cessna Aircraft, Buffenbarger said. The contract with Cessna's hourly work force expires in September. I'm sure it's going to play into it, Buffenbarger said. I know the management teams in Wichita sure talk to one another. Boeing is also sure to look at what happened in Wichita, Hamilton said. Its contract with Machinists in Washington expires in 2012. A similar long-term contract could help keep work there, he said. For example, when Boeing decides to replace the 737 or 777, it can choose to put the work there or somewhere else. A 10-year contract would be a huge motivation for Boeing to keep the new airplanes here in Puget Sound where they have the mature infrastructure; they have the skilled workers; they have the supply base, Hamilton said. It's too early to say whether it will influence contract negotiations between Spirit and its professional and technical workers, said Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace Midwest director Bob Brewer. I don't know that it will, Brewer said. There's a different set of employees and a different set of market data we'll be looking at.... A lot will depend on where the economy goes. See. Sun, 04 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article104.html#1337548566 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article104.html Nex-Tech Processing in southwest Wichita is growing and plans to invest 1.26 million in additional machinery and equipment. The company, a metal-processing facility for components and assemblies for the aerospace industry, employs 121 people in Wichita. It plans to hire 43 people over the next two years, including 10 to 15 painters, inspectors and line operators now, said Nex-Tech Processing general manager Terry Karst. The business was at capacity and needed to expand. Our customers are demanding... faster turnaround time and on-time delivery as the industry recovers, Karst said. We want to make sure we satisfy our customers' needs. Nex-Tech Processing worked with the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition to secure city, county and state incentives, which include forgivable loans, work force training and tax credits. The company is owned by Dallas investment firm Highland Capital, which bought the company from Thayer Aerospace in 2007. The owners... are willing to invest in the facility and grow the business in Wichita instead of expanding or growing someplace else, Karst said. Nex-Tech Processing works with machine parts, inspecting, painting and finishing them, Karst said. In this economic environment, keeping companies and their investment and jobs here is important news, Mayor Carl Brewer said in a statement. Helping them expand and add additional jobs is even better news. For the company, we're excited that the city of Wichita values our presence in town and working with us to complete this expansion here in Wichita, Karst said. The company is looking forward to growing even more in the future, he said. Nex-Tech Processing's sister company, Nex-Tech Aerospace, expanded its operations in Wichita last year. Nex-Tech Aerospace, at 4201 S. 119th St. West, said it would add a minimum of 85 jobs over three years. See. Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article105.html#1337548567 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article105.html WASHINGTON - For the companies vying over the past decade for the Air Force's troubled 35 billion refueling plane contract, it is try, try and try again. Rival planemakers Boeing and the European defense contractor EADS submitted bids this week, Boeing on Friday, for the chance to build the new refueling plane. It is the latest round in a tussle that has yet to produce a winner and has forced the Air Force to keep up its fleet of planes, some of which are more than 50 years old. While the Pentagon has said it plans to award a contract in November, the history behind the tanker project shows there are no guarantees. Earlier bids that have pitted the world's foremost jetmakers against each other have been sidelined by contractor disputes, Air Force errors, and criminal cases that have ensnared the Pentagon and Boeing. It has all led to rancorous fights between defense contractors and political wrangling by opposing sides in Congress. Boeing officials insist that the potential payoff makes the untold hours and millions of dollars spent to land the contract well worth the fight. The contract to build 179 new jets to replace the Air Force's geriatric KC-135s is expected to be the first slice of a project worth up to 100 billion for a new fleet of refueling planes. It is important not only for Boeing, but for the United States, said Jean Chamberlin, Boeing's tanker program general manager. It is definitely worthwhile. EADS North America, a unit of European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., submitted a solo bid Thursday after its longtime partner, Northrop Grumman, backed out this year. Northrop said the Air Force's wish list for the contract was focused heavily on price, which favored the smaller plane that Boeing has offered. But EADS says its larger jet, a variant of the A330 made by EADS subsidiary Airbus that can carry more fuel, is the better plane. Chamberlin said Boeing has lowered the cost of its bid from the proposals it made in the past. It is a military variant of the Boeing 767 passenger jet, and Chamberlin said the savings come from greater coordination between the commercial jet assembly line and the work that would be done to outfit it for military use. Boeing's supporters in Congress from Washington state and Kansas are pressuring the Pentagon to consider a recent World Trade Organization ruling against Airbus. The trade body concluded that European governments had given illegal subsidies to Airbus to help it develop commercial jets. Boeing's backers claim that type of aid gives Airbus an unfair edge in the tanker competition, a claim that Chamberlin echoed. EADS has contested those claims, and said it will create tens of thousands of jobs in the Gulf of Mexico, a region that it points out desperately needs money and jobs right now. See. Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article106.html#1337548568 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article106.html FARNBOROUGH, England - Boeing Co. and European arch rival Airbus racked up billions of dollars' worth of aircraft sales at the Farnborough International Airshow on Monday, raising hopes that the aviation industry has touched the bottom of a deep two-year downturn. But the horizon remains clouded - major European airlines, which are still haunted by recession, mostly kept their hands in their pockets as Middle Eastern carriers and U.S. plane leasing firms made purchases to build up their fleets. The optimism also isn't extending to the defense side of the sector where massive cuts to Western military budgets were the talk of the industry's premier event. The biennial gathering at an airfield outside London - bringing together planemakers, airlines, government officials and military top brass - is considered by industry watchers a key test of the industry's health. More than 1,000 exhibitors from 38 countries have signed up for Farnborough, with delegations from Egypt, Taiwan and Morocco attending for the first time. Organizers also cited stronger interest from major players China and Russia. We're gradually starting to see a slow recovery to a new norm, said Owen MacFarlane, CEO of CAV Aerospace. So maybe it's not the same volumes as we saw in 2007 and 2008, but certainly an increase from where we have been. He noted that he cut 25 percent of his work force over the past 18 months. Everybody seems a lot more buoyant. Analysts don't expect anything close to the record-breaking 88.7 billion worth of deals announced in Farnborough in 2008, but the gathering already has exceeded the slow orders for commercial planes at Le Bourget last year, where deals came in at around 7 billion. The International Air Transport Association has forecast that global industry profits will reach 2.5 billion this year, an upturn from the huge 9.4 billion loss in 2009. Asia and North America are expected to lead the recovery, with Europe lagging behind. Strikes at some airlines, the debt crisis and the volcanic ash cloud that caused major disruptions this spring are all hurting Europe's recovery. There is a renewed enthusiasm to look forward again among the airlines, said Howard Wheeldon, a senior strategist at BGC Partners, who upped his forecast for commercial plane orders at the show to 400 from 300 after the early burst of announcements on Monday morning. Boeing Commercial Airplanes president Jim Albaugh said the market has come back faster than we expected and the Chicago-based company has twice raised its internal forecasts for the number of orders at the biennial show. The early orders, worth a total of 17.7 billion, included an Emirates deal to buy 12 Boeing 777-300ER jetliners, worth 3.6 billion at list prices. Boeing also received a 3 billion order from GE Capital Aviation Services for 40 737-800s. Airbus picked up a 4.4 billion order from Air Lease Corp. for 20 A321 aircraft and 31 A320s, a 4.9 billion order from GECAS, General Electric's commercial aircraft leasing arm, for 60 A320s. Russian flag carrier Aeroflot, the only European airline to buy on Monday, ordered 11 of Airbus' A330-300 aircraft, worth 1.7 billion. Canada's Bombardier, a rising challenger to established giants like Airbus and Boeing, received an order for three business jets from Qatar Airways in a deal worth 122 million. See. Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article107.html#1337548569 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article107.html Clay Lacy was 12 years old when he began flying at a small airstrip in Wichita called the Orville Sanders Cannonball Airport at Maple and Tyler. That early passion launched a distinctive career as an aerial cinematographer, United Airlines pilot, experimental pilot, fighter pilot, entrepreneur and holder of 29 speed records. Lacy will be inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday. Also honored will be Alan Bean, lunar module pilot for Apollo 12; Warren Grimes, inventor of aircraft navigation instruments and lights; and Noel Wien, Arctic flight pioneer who founded Wien Alaska Airlines. Where do you start with Clay Lacy? asked National Aviation Hall of Fame enshrinement director Ron Kaplan. As you can imagine, anyone who started flying when they were 12 probably has a long and colorful history of aviation achievements. And Clay certainly has those. Most of the inductees into the Hall of Fame are known for maybe one major accomplishment, Kaplan said. But Clay Lacy can claim major accomplishments in numerous areas. Lacy, 77, grew up in Wichita, and left to join United Airlines as a co-pilot on a DC-3 aircraft. He flew for United for nearly 41 years. He's flown more than 200 different aircraft, holds 32 type ratings and logged more than 55,000 flight hours. Lacy was manager of Learjet sales for the western states before starting a charter and fixed base operation service in Van Nuys, Calif., in 1968. He may be best known for his work in aerial film footage. Paul Bowen, who worked with Lacy on a number of projects, said Lacy is a top aerial cinematographer. You can find pilots who can fly photo missions technically beautifully, Bowen said. But he flies them artistically beautifully. He helped develop a camera system called Astrovision for the filming that he uses on specially modified Learjet aircraft. Over the years, he's filmed more than 2,800 air-to-air photography projects for military, general aviation, airlines, television and feature films, including Top Gun, The Right Stuff and Armageddon. He faked a gear-up landing of a Learjet for the movie Capricorn One, and landed a DC-3 gear-up - no faking - for the movie, The Island. See. Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article108.html#1337548570 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article108.html Wichita - with its cluster of aviation manufacturers - ranked first in a list of cities with the fastest export growth, a new study shows. Wichita was also the leading city in exports that drive U.S. Gross Metropolitan Product. The research is from the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based public policy organization. Increasing exports is important in building up the U.S. economy. Exports deliver good-paying jobs, the report said. In his State of the Union address, President Obama called for a new National Export initiative to double U.S. exports over the next five years. The economy as a whole hasn't doubled exports over a five-year period in six decades, researchers said in Export Nation: How U.S. Metros Lead National Export Growth and Boost Competitiveness, which was released Monday. Only four metropolitan areas doubled exports in the past five years - Wichita; Portland, Ore.; New Orleans and Houston. Wichita's exports grew 22 percent from 2003 to 2008, when adjusted for inflation. This growth is attributable to (Wichita's) impressive aircraft industry cluster, the study said. It noted that the city is home to,,,and. The companies are helped by myriad suppliers that strengthen their export capability, the report said. Wichita planemakers build nearly half of all general aviation aircraft delivered around the world each year. Roughly half of those deliveries go outside the U.S. Cessna's exports grew by 165.5 percent from 2005 and 2008 driven by strong sales into developing regions such as Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. Hawker Beechcraft's exports, meanwhile grew by more than 390 percent from 2004 to 2009, it said. That was driven by sales to Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. Suppliers such asandin Wichita benefited from exports, the report said. Although Cox Machine was affected by the recession in 2009, layoffs would have been worse without Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft's sales abroad, the report said. The Brookings report underscores the critical role general aviation airplane manufacturing must play if the administration is to meet its goal of boosting exports, General Aviation Manufacturers president and CEO Pete Bunce said in a statement. The aviation industry lost a significant portion of its work force during the economic downturn, Bunce said. Our recovery depends on an ever more robust export market for U.S. manufacturers, he said. The administration must advance policies and regulations that support recovery of the general aviation industry, he said. Export growth translates into jobs, the study said. In 2008, U.S. exports supported 11.8 million jobs nationally and 7.7 million jobs in the top 100 metro areas, it said. Export-intensive industries also paid more than domestic-oriented ones. For every 10 billion in exports in an industry, workers earn 10 percent to 20 percent higher wages than those in a non-exporting industry in the same city, it said. The U.S. should become more export-oriented and less dependent on domestic consumption, the report suggests. Good-paying jobs are at a premium. Exports could also help reduce U.S. independence on foreign borrowing and the chance of massive investment bubbles. To increase exports, the U.S. must work to level the playing field on trade and currency, improve U.S.-made exports for export and connect those products to global markets, it says. See. Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article109.html#1337548571 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article109.html Cessna Aircraft has developed a new use for its Citation Mustang business jet - medical transportation. The announcement was made Monday, the opening day of the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual week-long air show in Oshkosh, Wis., AirVenture 2010. Hundreds of thousands of aviation enthusiasts are expected. Last year's show attracted 578,000 attendees, 750 exhibitors and 10,000 airplanes. The show runs through Sunday. The version of the plane will have a new folding front seat and a railing system to load a patient into the airplane. Spectrum Aeromed in Fargo, N.D., developed the medical interior and patient loading system. The first delivery will be made to Jet Budget, a Caribbean charter operator. The operating economics of the Mustang, its range and performance, combined with the Spectrum Aeromed interior will make this a popular addition to the medical transport community, Scott Sarver, Cessna manager of special mission sales, said in a statement. Besides converting the Mustang for medical transport missions, the company also announced a new luxury edition of the Mustang, called the High Sierra Edition. It features a special paint scheme, a Garmin G1000 avionics with synthetic vision technology, electronic charts, locking fuel caps and special service and parts programs. The company also introduced a Mustang Ease into the Saddle program to help customers transition from single-engine or turboprop aircraft to a business jet. In the program, Cessna corporate pilots will act as a coach to familiarize customers with normal operations and procedures before they receive training at FlightSafety. Cessna has delivered more than 300 Mustangs, which list more than 3 million. Cessna also announced that it is working with Bye Energy to develop an electric-powered proof-of-concept 172 Skyhawk. As the company looks at alternative fuels for general aviation aircraft, the electric power plant offers significant benefits, but there are also challenges, Cessna CEO Jack Pelton said in a statement. We believe Bye Energy has gotten off to a good start in understanding those challenges, he said. First flight of an electric-powered plane is expected by the end of the year, the company said. Hawker Beechcraft also is exhibiting at the show with a variety of products. It's highlighting its 50th anniversary Baron G58, Bonanza G36, three King Air products and the Premier IA. Garmin announced a Garmin G1000 avionics upgrade for the King Air 2000 and other software enhancements. Belite Aviation and Belite Electronics in Wichita said they plan to announce new models of the ultralight aircraft and new editions to its line of avionics. See. Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article110.html#1337548572 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article110.html OSHKOSH, Wis. -An electric airliner? Imagine a hyper-efficient aircraft as large as a Boeing 737, although weighing much less. It would run quieter and cleaner than any commercial plane ever made, requiring two-thirds less energy, according to NASA-funded research. The hybrid-powered jetliner of the future would operate on batteries or jet fuel, depending on whether it's cruising or taking off and climbing, when the most thrust is required. The concept of electric aircraft generated a resounding buzz amid the drone of pistons and the roar of gas turbine jet engines at the ExperimentalAircraft Association's annual AirVenture air show, which wrapped up Sunday at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh. Boeing is working on a concept plane called the Sugar Volt that would use turbine engines and electric motors connected to the fans to more efficiently propel the electric airliner. On flights of up to 900 miles, the Sugar Volt would cruise almost exclusively on battery power, said Marty Bradley, a technical fellow at Boeing's Research and Technology division in Huntington Beach, Calif. An electric propulsion system would help slash the amount of fuel burned as well as noise around airports by about 70 percent compared to today's airliner fleet, say aerospace researchers who believe they can have such a flying machine up and running by about 2035. That's a critical environmental issue. The number of commercial flights will double or triple over the next 50 years, according to some estimates. We want to make the airline industry less sensitive to high fuel prices, as well as address air pollution and noise, Bradley said. On a smaller scale, a competition is under way to develop by next year a personal commuter aircraft that operates on electricity or fuel cells and can average at least 100 mph on a 200-mile flight while achieving greater than 200 passenger mpg. The Green Flight Challenge, sponsored by NASA and the Cafe Foundation, offers a 1.5 million first prize for the aircraft with the best performance. Some of the competing teams presented their designs at the Oshkosh air show. The participants included aerospace engineers and students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Georgia Tech University, Penn State University and the University of Colorado. The concept is winnable. The engineering still needs to get done, said Jack Langelaan, an assistant professor at Penn State. Small planes or jumbos, the disadvantages include the weight of battery packs and the lack of range that current battery technology provides. Among the major challenges is improving the amount of power a battery can store for a given weight, said Stephen Beecher, director of advanced technology for power management at GE Aviation. You've got to replace a tank of gas with some other fuel source that is not combustible and that you can change somehow to electrical energy, Beecher said. Electric propulsion will be a game-changer and transform aeronautics in the next 20 to 30 years, predicted Mark Moore, an aerospace engineer and conceptual design expert at NASA. Moore said the first breakthroughs will occur with small aircraft, personal air vehicles that will replace the automobile on some trips; an expansion of unmanned aerial vehicles, currently used by the military, to civilian use; followed by much more environmentally responsible commercial transport planes. Moore and his NASA colleagues are developing a one-person all-electric aircraft called the Puffin Gridlock Commuter. The 12-foot-long Puffin would take off and land vertically and be powered by an electric motor and rotors. The goal is to produce one-tenth as much noise as the quietest helicopter today, he said. It means being able to take off and land closer to where you live and work in a much more community-friendly, lower-emissions aircraft, Moore said. If we are able to do that, we can get away from the idea that the only way to get around in an on-demand way is through cars and ground congestion. More people will be able to take advantage of the expansive country that we have, he said. See. Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article111.html#1337548573 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article111.html Wichita planemakers are turning toward Latin America next week to help sell business aircraft. They will display products at the Seventh Annual Latin America Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition at the Congonhas Airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The show runs Aug. 12-14 and typically attracts more than 13,000 people. Latin American countries are poised to play an important part in the economic recuperation of general aviation, said aviation consultant Brian Foley. Historically, Latin America has been the third-largest market for corporate aircraft and is where 12 percent of the world's 30,600 business jets and turboprops are based. Jets outnumber turboprops by two-to-one in North America and Europe. But with its often challenging airport environment, utilitarian turboprops have a slight edge in Latin America, Foley said. What the world is watching now is market activity, he said. And this is another area where Latin America will likely shine. Europe's debt crisis and the lagging U.S. economy have made those markets sluggish, Foley said. Latin America has been relatively insulated from those problems. And that should prove later to have been a bright spot in the overall recovery, he said. Foley said his confidence in that region is partly based on its stock market performance - one of several indicators of general aviation market health. The Sao Paulo stock exchange is off from its 2008 peak, but it's not off by as much as the U.S. Dow Jones industrial average or the European markets, he said. Healthy stock markets mean that corporate profits and personal portfolios are strengthening, providing not only the means but, more importantly, the confidence to purchase aircraft, Foley said. Latin America - especially Brazil - is one of Cessna Aircraft's strongest markets, said spokesman Bob Stangarone. We see a lot of opportunity there going forward, Stangarone said. Cessna will have seven or eight aircraft on display near its chalet at LABACE, including the Citation Mustang, Citation X and CJ4. Latin America is also an important aviation market for Hawker Beechcraft. The company has a renewed focus on the area and reorganized to focus more keenly on it, said Richard Emery, Hawker Beechcraft president of the Americas jet sales. We're excited about the potential in South America for this company, Emery said. Brazil has been one of the stronger markets for the company this year, he said. They have rebounded much more quickly and much more strongly than most of the rest of the world has from this economic recession, Emery said. Heading into the remainder of the year and into 2011, the company feels especially good about the potential in Brazil, Chile and Colombia for sales, he said. Hawker Beechcraft will have a significant presence at LABACE with a chalet and the Hawker 4000, Hawker 900XP, Premier, King Air 350 and King Air G90GX and the Baron, he said. The planes will then tour several cities in South America after the show concludes. See. Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article112.html#1337548574 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article112.html Hawker Beechcraft's top executive reiterated to Wall Street analysts that the company is considering alternate U.S. locations for some of its Wichita-based manufacturing. The actions are part of a larger internal process called Project Challenge, aimed to position the business for the future, Hawker Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture said on a conference call about the company's second-quarter financial results. We do believe it is necessary to adjust the cost structure of the company to be profitable in a smaller market, Boisture said. The company will finalize these and other facilities footprint decisions over the next six to nine months. Project Challenge focuses on four areas: reduction of facilities, decisions on core and noncore tasks, supply chain rationalization and lean manufacturing initiatives, Boisture said. We continue to focus our effort on what we can control in our business and let the market sort itself out, he said. A good example of that is Project Challenge. Hawker Beechcraft has narrowed the list of potential places of where to locate Wichita work from a list of 10 to two - Mississippi and Louisiana, Boisture told The Eagle last month. The company is working through the analysis and evaluation of moving work, including the investment needed and the payback, Hawker Beechcraft chief financial officer Sid Anderson said. The market for business aircraft shows few signs of meaningful improvement, Boisture said. Overall, the new aircraft market in our segments is very slow and is trading at depressed prices, Boisture said. The company's trainer business was a bright spot in the quarter, with solid revenue and generation of cash flow, he said. The trainer received positive interest from U.S. partner nations and other countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa at last month's Farnborough International Airshow in the U.K. The reception from potential customers for the AT-6 was also good, Boisture said. The AT-6 is a modified T-6 designed for regular warfare, air support and border security. Hawker Beechcraft's special mission King Airs were also a positive factor at the show, he said. The commercial King Air market, however, continues to be challenged by the number of used planes for sale. That's true for sales of the Hawker 900XP as well, Boisture said. There is a very good supply of recent used 800-900 series airplanes on the used market, and I think that until we see that absorbed, we'll continue to see depressed demand for those new units, he said. The company reported Tuesday that it recorded net sales for the second quarter of 639.3 million, down 177 million from the same time a year ago. The company recorded an operating loss of 20.7 million in the quarter compared with an operating income of 39.4 million a year ago. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article113.html#1337548575 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article113.html Aerospace analysts differ on whether the Air Force will miss its November deadline in awarding a contract to replace aerial refueling tankers. At the same time, the competition continues to be embroiled in controversy after California-based U.S. Aerospace filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office questioning the actions of some Air Force officials. The company is considered a long shot in the race with Boeing and EADS, Airbus' parent company, in vying for the 35 billion contract to replace 179 tankers. Morgan Stanley aerospace analyst Heidi Wood wrote recently that she thinks the Air Force will miss its November deadline in awarding the contract. She wrote that it looks like it slips to 2011 decision, but gave no reason for her speculation. Leeham Co. analyst Scott Hamilton agrees with Wood. We all know how well they've stuck to their deadlines in the past, Hamilton said. The final decision is likely to be protested by the loser of the contest, Hamilton said. And that could push the process into 2012. The November deadline is 10 days after the midterm elections, where Republicans are expected to narrow the gap they have as minority party in the House and Senate, Hamilton wrote. A closely divided Congress means more politicking will rule as opposed to letting the USAF do its job, he wrote. Lexington Institute defense analyst Loren Thompson has a different view. I think the Air Force is going to try to stick as close as possible to its schedule, Thompson said. Still, if it has any political sense at all, it will wait until the election until it will announce the outcome. In the meantime, U.S. Aerospace has filed a protest alleging Air Force personnel may have intentionally delayed its messenger from delivering its proposal on time in order to create a reason to refuse to consider it, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. They have political issues with our Eastern European supplier, thus violating the requirement that the program be a fair and equal competition, open to all qualified bidders, the filing said. U.S. Aerospace said last month that it planned to work with state-owned Ukrainian aircraft maker Antonov. The protest will not force the Defense Department into delaying a contract decision scheduled for this fall, Department of Defense spokesman Geoff Morrell told Defense News. In its SEC filing, U.S. Aerospace said its messenger arrived at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio with its proposal more than half an hour before the 2 p.m. deadline on July 9. The messenger first was denied entry to the base, then received incorrect directions to the proper building, it said. Once there, the messenger was told to wait until Air Force personnel came to get him. Although the proposal was arbitrarily marked received at 2:05 p.m., it was under Air Force control before the bid deadline, the company said. The protest also questions the actions of some Air Force personnel, saying that they repeatedly leaked information to the media and granted EADS a 60-day filing extension while refusing an extension for U.S. Aerospace. Boeing first won the contract in 2003, but the deal was scuttled amid an ethics scandal involving a government procurement officer and Boeing. In early 2008, a contract was awarded to EADS and Northrop Grumman, but it was overturned after the Government Accountability Office said the rules had been changed to favor the EADS/Northrop team. Northrop dropped out of the bidding in this round, saying the Air Force favors Boeing's smaller tanker. EADS decided to bid alone. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Wed, 11 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article114.html#1337548576 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article114.html Cox Machine has won the single-largest parts manufacturing contract in its history from Spirit AeroSystems. Cox has signed a seven-year agreement to build structural aluminum and titanium parts for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. It's a big deal for us, said Cox Machine chief technical officer Jason Cox. It will have a large effect on the sales of the company. The company will need to add 12 additional people to its work force of 120. Hiring is expected to begin in mid-2011, as work begins to phase in, Cox said. He declined to give the value of the contract. The 787 is a tremendous project, he said. We're pretty excited to be on a platform that we know is going to be successful. The company just completed a 30,000-square-foot expansion to its facility at 5338 W. 21st St. near the Sedgwick County Zoo, which doubled its manufacturing space. The project was in anticipation of new business, Jason Cox said. The company is in the midst of moving equipment into the space. In the meantime, the company has undertaken lean manufacturing practices to become more efficient. That freed up enough cash to complete the expansion and add equipment, despite the tough economy, Cox Machine chief operating officer Brenna Davis said in a statement. What we've done is try to make our workplace as efficient as we know how to be, Cox said. We continue to work on that. Ultimately, the changes make it easier for everyone to do their jobs, he said. They've rearranged machines, changed the flow of the product through the shop and made sure employees have items needed to do their job, such as cutting tools, nearby. A simple addition of a button installed at the machine operators' stations is helping save time and keep machines running when a question or problem arises. The operators can call for a supervisor by pressing the button. That saves them from wandering around the shop looking for the right person. When an operator hits the button, a text message is sent to the supervisor's phone. The operator can also key in what the problem may be and whether it's urgent. The only way we make any money at all is when people are making parts, Cox said. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Fri, 13 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article115.html#1337548577 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article115.html The Machinists union, in an attempt to keep jobs in Wichita, said Friday that it will reopen negotiations next week with Hawker Beechcraft Corp., a year before the current contract expires. If we can't reach an agreement, the company is going to move the production lines to other states and Mexico, Machinists aerospace coordinator Ron Eldridge said. He said the company has told the union of its intentions in previous meetings. Once they start moving production lines, they've told us in three to five years, they'll be nothing left, Eldridge said. All the marbles are on the table. Company officials would not comment directly. In a statement, Hawker Beechcraft said: We have been very open about these discussions being vitally important to the future presence of Hawker Beechcraft in Wichita. Negotiations are scheduled to open Thursday. The union represents 2,400 hourly workers at Hawker Beechcraft. We continue to experience unprecedented times for the business and general aviation industry worldwide and in Wichita, Hawker Beechcraft said in its statement. Meetings with the union in the last several months to discuss challenges and potential solutions have been frank and constructive, it said. As we begin this process, we are confident these discussions will continue to focus on all aspects that are required to strengthen Hawker Beechcraft and sustain it for the future, the statement said. The company has been exploring ways to cut costs in an economy that has battered the general aviation industry. It's asking the union for cost savings, flexibility and a longer-term agreement to be more competitive, the union said. The Machinists recently signed a 10-year contract with Spirit AeroSystems. Union leaders said the union alone can't save jobs. They say it will take help from city, county and state officials as well. Kansas is going to have to wake up, said Machinists union District 70 president Steve Rooney. These states are throwing a lot of cash and doing everything they can to take jobs. Hawker Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture told The Eagle last month that the company is considering moving work out of Wichita and opening a facility in Mississippi or Louisiana. It's also looking at options outside the U.S. A series of decisions, including Wichita's future role, will be made over the next six months, Boisture said. The company announced in November plans to close its Salina plant and send the work to Mexico and to outside suppliers. With an economy that's not creating jobs, states are trying to buy them by offering big pools of money and incentives, union leaders said. We've never seen a state trying to lure factories into their state so hard, Rooney said. It's not yet known how long negotiations will last. But at least one state has given the company a deadline, union officials said. We don't have forever, Eldridge said. Union members will vote whether to accept any new agreement. Acceptance will take a simple majority of those voting. If members reject the offer, the current agreement stays in place until it expires next August. They will not vote on whether to strike. Since Boisture made his comments last month, local and state leaders - including Gov. Mark Parkinson - have met with Hawker Beechcraft to see what can be done to keep work in Wichita. If we can get close to what we need with Hawker Beechcraft, we can go to the Legislature to fill the gap, Parkinson told The Eagle last month, even if it means calling a special session of the Legislature. That's as long as it makes economic sense to do so, he said. In the meantime, Eldridge says the union will give it everything we can. This is about whether there's going to be general aviation in Wichita or not. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Sat, 14 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article116.html#1337548578 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article116.html Hawker Beechcraft and the Machinists union officially opened negotiations Thursday with a meeting at Terradyne Country Club in Andover. Both sides said they are entering the talks - which are occurring a year before the contract expires - in a spirit of openness, frankness and respect while acknowledging the seriousness and gravity of the times. Thank you for responding to our request to take the time and the effort to open our agreement and examine it at a very crucial time in our company today, Bill Boisture, CEO of Hawker Beechcraft, told union representatives at the opener. We're here today because some things significantly outside of Hawker Beechcraft and outside the people at Hawker Beechcraft have changed around our business. The market for business and general aviation aircraft declined 30 to 40 percent from late 2008. Tighter credit and political rhetoric that made it unpopular to operate business jets have damaged the industry, Boisture said. Unprecedented times call for unprecedented actions, Boisture said. Tom Buffenbarger, international president of the Machinists union, said the company and union must find a way to keep jobs and the company viable. We found it necessary to take a leap of faith, he said. The union recognizes that the economy and the aviation industry aren't going to turn around anytime soon, Buffenbarger said. Hawker Beechcraft has told the union, which represents about 2,400 hourly workers in Wichita, that it will move its aircraft production out of Wichita if talks aren't successful, union leaders said previously. Boisture told The Eagle last month that the company is considering moving work to Louisiana or Mississippi. It's also looking outside of the U.S. We've been very clear that portions of our company need to get relocated to lower-cost, more efficient localities and suppliers, Boisture said Thursday. The company is closing its Salina plant, for example, and moving work to Mexico and to outside suppliers. The company has a series of decisions to make, Boisture said. Those decisions, including Wichita's future role, will be made over the next six months, he has said. We are trying to blend a profitable, sustainable future for Hawker Beechcraft here in Wichita, Boisture said. Decisions will be made on what to do, how to do it, who to do it with and what the investment has to be to change the company for the future, he said. The union can't save jobs by itself, officials say. The state and local communities must pitch in. Kansas must wake up, said the Machinists aerospace coordinator Ron Eldridge. Boisture said the outcome of the talks will affect Hawker Beechcraft's presence in Wichita and how it makes decisions. But it's too soon to say what will occur. Everyone wants to know the last page of the book, he said. We don't get to write that book here today. Boisture declined to say how much in cost savings the company is seeking through the negotiations. But it must cut annual total costs 200 million a year by 2012, he said. Savings will come through many fronts, such as lean manufacturing, materials, supply chain, facilities and overhead, Boisture said. Sources say the company wants pay cuts and for workers to pay more of the cost of health insurance premiums. While the union is going to work to preserve the industry in Wichita, we're not going to roll over; we're not going to play dead, Buffenbarger said. The union will work to protect everybody's interests. The goal is to keep jobs and people employed, Buffenbarger said. If that's the outcome of the talks, we'll consider that a success, he said. See. Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article117.html#1337548579 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article117.html Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- An American Airlines flight today became the first in the U.S. to land using an approach designed by a private company, which may lead to a larger role for business in crafting routes for the government.Flight 1916 from Dallas landed at Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Connecticut, at 12:14 p.m. local time, guided by procedures written by General Electric Co.'s Naverus unit. The flight shows companies can speed the redesign of routes, helping carriers save time and fuel, said Brian Will, director of airspace modernization at AMR Corp.'s American. We will use this all the time, Will, who flew American's Boeing Co. 737-800 to Connecticut, said of the landing approach in an interview. It's a benefit to us. GE's Naverus and Boeing's Jeppesen unit were authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration in 2007 to redesign take-off and landing procedures available to any carriers, letting airlines navigate more precise routes using satellites. The effort is part of a 40 billion FAA plan dubbed NextGen to overhaul air-traffic control, which for decades has relied on ground-based radios and radar maintained by the FAA. The agency had written 214 procedures for different routes, allowing carriers to use the new technology, as of July 29, said Laura Brown, an agency spokeswoman. GE's Bradley approach and procedures by Boeing's Jeppesen for the Savannah, Georgia, airport that take effect on Sept. 23, are the only approaches completed by private vendors, she said. Representatives of Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE, the world's largest producer of jet engines, and Chicago-based Boeing, the world's second-largest commercial-jet maker, said they hope their designs lead regulators to direct more work to private companies. Thousands Of Flights We're looking at thousands of flight procedures ultimately as part of this upgrade, said Steve Fulton, a GE technical fellow and co-founder of Naverus, bought by GE last year. In order to do that work, having additional sources ultimately will be necessary. Boeing's Jeppesen along with Naverus agreed with the FAA to fund one demonstration project, said Andy McDowell, Boeing's director of airspace and airport services. As a next step, public funding to augment the FAA's work would be a great thing, he said. We haven't seen any movement to that yet. Brown said the FAA's policy is not to comment on possible work for vendors. U.S. airlines forecast saving tens of millions of dollars on jet fuel by using satellite-based technology to avoid using radar and radio beacons, which can sometimes result in flights taking circuitous routes between airports. Fewer Diversions The procedures and technology may permit landings in weather that might otherwise force diversions. Will said that after Fort Worth, Texas-based American added the procedures in Quito, Ecuador, diversions fell to three in 2007 from 46 the previous year. Southwest Airlines Co., which in 2007 announced a 175 million, six-year plan to retrofit planes and train pilots to fly with the technology, told Congress last year the procedures can reduce fuel burn and carbon emissions as much as 6 percent per flight. Alaska Air Group Inc.'s Alaska Airlines, which has used the procedures since the mid-1990s, said this year it began using the technology at almost half of the airports it serves in Alaska, along with Washington, D.C.; Portland, Oregon; and Palm Springs, California. Alaska also said it was the only carrier with a fleet fully equipped to use the approaches. See original article by John Hughes at. Thu, 26 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article118.html#1337548580 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article118.html Air China, China's flagship carrier, has ordered 15 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft from Boeing (NYSE: BA), a move that will boost Air China's capacity by 11%. The Beijing-based carrier said the agreement to buy the Boeing planes replaces a previous 2005 agreement with the U.S. company to buy 15 787-8 aircraft, delivery of which was delayed by Boeing, according to the Wall Street Journal. Boeing said last week that delivery of the Dreamliner will be delayed again due to problems with a Rolls Royce Plc engine. Japan's All Nippon Airways is scheduled to take delivery of the first Dreamliner in the middle of the first quarter next year. The estimated cost of the planes is about 3 billion, but Air China said it was able to gain significant concessions from Boeing. Neither company disclosed the price paid for the planes. China's airline carriers ordered a total of 60 Boeing 787s, each priced at about 200 million, according to the People's Daily Online. China Southern Airlines (NYSE: ZNH) has ordered 10 Dreamliners. See original article at. Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article119.html#1337548581 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article119.html U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback is having a hard time believing that Brazil-based Embraer could capture 14 percent of the world's business jet market in eight years without help from subsidies from the Brazilian government. Brownback is asking the U.S. International Trade Commission to investigate. I think we've got to push aggressively forward, Brownback said. Embraer has grown quickly in the business aviation sector, Brownback noted in a speech this month to the Wichita Aero Club. The company competes with Wichita's Cessna Aircraft, Hawker Beechcraft and Bombardier Learjet. Embraer - based in Sao Jose dos Campos - has gone from a flat dead start in the business jet market in 2002 to a 14 percent market share, Brownback said. I don't think you can do that without having a heavy subsidization by the Brazilian government, he said. Embraer spokeswoman Christine Manna said Embraer's success is not due to subsidies. We did not use launch aid or any other illegal subsidies to develop our business jet portfolio, Manna said. The company also has not received subsidies for its commercial aircraft, she said. Instead, Embraer financed the 1 billion in development costs with a public stock offering, contributions from risk-sharing partners and retained earnings. It did not use any public funds for either family (of jets), Manna said. Embraer, one of Brazil's largest exporters, announced its entry into the business jet market in 2000. It delivered the first Legacy 600 in 2002. Today, Embraer offers seven models of executive aircraft: the Phenom 100, Phenom 300, Legacy 450, Legacy 500, Legacy 600, Legacy 650 and Lineage 1000. Of the 69 planes it delivered during the second quarter of this year, 40 were business aircraft. Second-quarter net sales totaled 1.35 billion and net income totaled 70 million. Brownback said the U.S. waited too long to investigate subsidies to Airbus. I thought we sat on our hands not doing things as a government and let Airbus continually take more and more market share, Brownback said in his speech. Only Airbus and Boeing remain in the commercial aerospace market today, he said. If we allow similarly other countries to go into the general aviation market and let them get that much of a head start before you confront what they're doing, how many of us are going to be left standing then? Brownback said. He said he's working with colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee to request that the International Trade Commission investigate the global competitiveness of the U.S. business aircraft industry and whether foreign government subsidies or actions have had a negative impact. The ITC should focus on the industry in the U.S., China, Brazil, Canada and Europe, examining the composition of the industry and the factors of competition, Brownback said. For years, Kansas has been leading the way in the general aviation industry, Brownback said in a statement issued last week. I know if everyone plays by the rules, Kansans will easily rise above the competition. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article120.html#1337548582 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article120.html Louisiana has tripled its offer to Hawker Beechcraft to lure it to the state, Machinists District 70 president Steve Rooney told union members at a rally Friday in Old Town. In response, Hawker Beechcraft has told the union that it needs three weeks to evaluate the new offer, he said. It's not known how much the offer is worth, Rooney said after the rally. Hawker Beechcraft spokeswoman Nicole Alexander said the company had no comment. Also at Friday's rally, union officials said that contract negotiations with Cessna Aircraft are not going well. Rooney said if Cessna does not improve its contract offer, that leaves this committee no option but to recommend rejection and authorize a strike. Machinists at Cessna will vote on a new contract offer next Saturday. Hawker Beechcraft and its union reopened negotiations a year early in order to save jobs in Wichita, said District 70 business representative Rita Rogers. We opened negotiations up with an open mind to save our jobs, Rogers said. Since then, we don't think the company has been very sincere about their effort. They've met only four times since talks reopened Aug. 20, she said. The two sides are scheduled to meet Tuesday so the union can present the company its noneconomic proposal, Rogers said. The two sides are scheduled to meet again Wednesday to discuss pensions and also on Thursday. Hawker Beechcraft has told the union, which represents about 2,400 hourly workers in Wichita, that the company will move its aircraft production out of Wichita if talks aren't successful, union officials have said. Hawker Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture has told The Eagle that the company is considering moving work to Louisiana or Mississippi. It's also looking outside the U.S. A series of decisions will be made over the next six months, Boisture said. Union officials spoke at a rally at the Pump House on Second Street across from the Courtyard by Marriott, where talks with Cessna are being held. Members held signs and blew whistles to protest jobs possibly leaving the state and in protest of Cessna's current proposal. Wichita's aviation workers are under attack, said Machinists aerospace coordinator Ron Eldridge. Companies have decided to make the city ground zero, he said. This is the worst proposal I have ever seen, Eldridge said of Cessna's offer. We are a long, long, long way apart. Cessna is seeking a 10-year agreement, officials said. In its proposal, Cessna is seeking a 4.2 percent wage cut, reduction of job classifications from 214 to less than 20, weakening of seniority, a 163 percent increase in health insurance costs and elimination of pensions, said District 70 business representative Steve Groom. It does not offer job security, he said. There are no GWIs (general wage increases) for the next 10 years, Groom said. (The cost of ) health care is uncapped. What are we going to do if they don't get it right? Eldridge asked the crowd. Strike! they responded. Lee Davis, a 15-year Cessna employee, said he hopes the company improves its offer next week. I think it's pretty sad they want to take everything from us, Davis said. He could take a little cut in pay, he said. But freezing pensions is a big issue. That's the thing I worry about, he said. In the remainder of his years working at Cessna, I won't get another penny for retirement. Renee Kitchens, a nine-year Cessna employee, said her biggest issue is health insurance. She said the proposal would raise premiums hundreds of dollars a month for her family of five. Cessna is expected to present its final offer to the union Monday. Members are scheduled to vote next Saturday on whether to ratify the contract. The current contract expires Sept. 19. A simple majority is needed to accept the offer. If the offer is rejected, it takes a two-thirds vote in favor of a strike for a work stoppage. If there are not enough votes to strike, the offer is accepted by default. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Sat, 11 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article121.html#1337548583 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article121.html Speculation about a merger is fueled by a Boeing executive's comment that the company is exploring purchases of unmanned aircraft and cyber security businesses - fields in which Northrop is a key player. The aerospace industry is bracing for major consolidation among contractors, and Boeing Co. could lead the way in a colossal merger with Northrop Grumman Corp. in Century City that would create the world's largest defense contractor. The possibility of such a combination arose this week after a Boeing executive disclosed that the Chicago aerospace and defense contractor is actively looking at potential acquisition opportunities amid prospects of sharp cuts in defense spending. Neither company would comment. Defense industry analysts said a possible merger of the two makes financial sense for Boeing. But government approval of such a deal would be far from certain, they said. Speculation was fueled by public comments Tuesday from Dennis Muilenburg, chief executive of Boeing's defense, space and security division. He said the company was targeting purchases of such businesses as unmanned aircraft, cyber security and intelligence and surveillance systems. Northrop already is a key player in those markets. We continue to see acquisitions as an opportunity area for us, Muilenburg said at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington. It's one of the tools that we use to grow. Wall Street appeared cautiously optimistic about a deal. Northrop shares have gained 4% over the last three days. They rose 1.64 on Friday to 58.73. After nearly a decade of double-digit growth in Pentagon spending, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has said the overall Pentagon budget would climb only about 1% annually over the next five years. And with U.S. combat operations ending in Iraq, many in the defense industry believe contractors will be scrambling for work in the coming years. If you let market forces function in the coming downturn in defense spending, then one or two of the biggest companies will exit the business through mergers, said Loren Thompson, a military policy analyst for the Lexington Institute, a think tank in Arlington, Va. This is consistent in what we've seen in the past. After the Cold War ended two decades ago, military budgets were slashed. The excess capacity in the defense industry resulted in a barrage of mergers. In 1993, then-Deputy Defense Secretary William Perry held the so-called last supper and warned the defense industry's top suppliers that the budget was going to shrink and that consolidation was essential to their survival. The number of aircraft makers dropped to three from eight, and the 13 missile manufacturers were reduced to four. Mergers and acquisitions are the strategic moves that companies make in a major downturn like the one we are about to enter, Thompson said. Boeing needs to broaden its business while positioning itself for the future. Unlike Boeing, which is known for building such conventional military hardware as cargo planes and fighter jets, Northrop specializes in developing more high-tech products, such as cyber-security and unmanned aircraft systems - and analysts see the Pentagon focusing more of its dwindling funds on those areas. From a strategic standpoint, the deal makes a lot of sense, said Rick Phillips, managing director at Janes Capital Partners, an Irvine aerospace and defense investment bank. But I don't think it's happening. That's mainly because federal regulators would raise antitrust issues, he said. Boeing and Northrop are the nation's second- and third-largest defense contractors, behind Lockheed Martin Corp. A merger would put about half of defense work with one giant company, he said. In addition, the deal may not be so attractive to Northrop and its new chief executive, Wesley G. Bush, who took over in January. Bush is reorganizing the company. Bush has cut some of Northrop's top executives and has said the company would consider abandoning its 6-billion-a-year shipbuilding business. He just got the job and has a vision for the company, Phillips said. I'm not so sure he wants to be working for Boeing all of a sudden. But it comes down to money and stockholders, Phillips acknowledged. If given enough dollars, the stockholders could be bought out at a premium, he said. What's going to happen is anybody's guess. See original article by W.J. Hennigan at. Sat, 11 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article122.html#1337548584 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article122.html Machinists union members at Cessna Aircraft will head to work instead of the picket line Monday after they failed to get the votes required to strike. Fifty-eight percent of members voted to reject Cessna's seven-year contract on Saturday, but only 49 percent voted to strike. Without the two-thirds vote required to approve a strike, the members accepted the contract by default. We understand the times we're in today, said Machinists District 70 directing business representative Steve Rooney at Century II after the votes were counted. A paycheck is a hard thing to give up. The union's negotiating team had recommended rejection and a strike. We support this membership entirely, Rooney said. Cessna chairman, president and CEO Jack Pelton called the contract fair. We are satisfied to begin this next week with a new contract in place so we can move forward with our efforts to reshape Cessna to be more competitive in a global market and a tough economy, Pelton said in a statement. We presented the members a contract that was more than fair, given our business environment, Pelton said. And while we are disappointed they rejected the offer, we appreciate the membership's willingness to continue to put the customer first, knowing that will lead to success for all. The Machinists union represents about 2,400 hourly workers at Cessna. The current contract expires today. A work stoppage would have begun at 12:01 a.m. Monday. The last time the Machinists struck Cessna was in 1976. Job security and health care were two main issues with the union. Members were unhappy the agreement didn't guarantee more work would be kept in Wichita. The company agreed to keep only final assembly of its Citation products in Wichita for the duration of the contract. That includes installing the wings, engines, avionics and interiors and painting the airplane before delivery to a customer. Roy Cavender, an 11-year employee, called the contract a lose-lose situation. From a strike, you lose; if you don't strike, you lose, Cavender said at Century II, where members were voting. You are between a rock and a hard place. The issues weren't about money, said Ron Russell, a 36-year Cessna employee. I just wanted more job security, Russell said. I was ready and willing to take it on the chin for wages and stuff, Russell said. But I'm not willing to take it in the back. ... I see all the takeaways. Russell said he's wanted to build airplanes since he was a child. Now, he's been told his job is moving to Mexico. Don Blecha has worked at Cessna for 35 years. His daughter and son-in-law work there as well. His wife and son have been laid off from Cessna. Blecha said he was ready to strike because he wants more job security for future generations. There is virtually no job security, Blecha said. That's the biggest thing to me. The change in health insurance was also a big issue for Blecha. With all the changes, it's looking like there's not going to be another generation that will have the lifestyle that we had, Blecha said. In the contract, health care coverage moves to consumer-based medical, dental and vision plans used by Cessna's nonrepresented workers. Union leadership figures the change raises costs by 4,000 to 5,000 a year. The insurance isn't any good, said Vince Chace, who's worked at Cessna 13 years. Jenny Carpenter, a 13-year employee, said that on Monday, she and her co-workers won't know where they will be in seniority, because the contract combines job classifications. They messed with things they didn't need to mess with, Carpenter said. In the end, however, workers didn't want to strike. The contract includes: * A ratification bonus of 2,500 paid in January and a 1,000 lump-sum payment in 2012 * No wage increases for the first four years and a 1 percent raise in each of the last three years. A clause allows negotiations to reopen to review wages annually beginning in 2014. * Cost-of-living increases * The potential for performance-based bonuses * Retention and a 2 increase per month in pension plan payments, to 57 per month for each year of service It's the second time in three months Machinists union members rejected a contract offer but didn't have the votes to strike. In June, 57 percent of union members at Spirit AeroSystems who voted rejected the company's offer of a 10-year contract. Fifty-eight percent voted to strike, falling short of the two-thirds required for a work stoppage. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Sun, 19 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article123.html#1337548585 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article123.html The Wichita Airport Advisory Board recommended Monday that the City Council move forward with a plan to build a 160 million terminal building at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. The board voted 7-2 in favor of the new terminal despite a recommendation from city finance staff that the project be postponed. I'm very much in favor of the... project, advisory board member Thom Rosenberg said. We need that to continue to grow as a city. The terminal is now in the hands of the City Council, which serves as the Wichita Airport Authority. It will discuss it during an Oct. 5 workshop. The city's finance department recommended postponing construction, saying the original forecasts of passenger growth weren't conservative enough. However, a report from Chicago-based consulting firm LeighFisher concluded that the project should move forward. Postponing the construction of the terminal facility will increase costs, withhold benefits from the local economy and strand certain investments already made at the airport and the FAA, according to the LeighFisher report, which was presented to the board Monday. City Manager Robert Layton sided with the LeighFisher report. I'm paid to be somewhat cautious and a little bit conservative, he said. But I think it's a wise investment to move forward on the terminal. The project counts on growing passenger traffic. And without continuation of the Kansas Affordable Airfares Program - which provides 5 million a year in revenue guarantees for airlines and is scheduled to expire in 2011 - the number of passengers using the airport will fall, according to the city report. That report concluded that AirTran and Frontier, which receive the guarantees, could leave the market if the Legislature doesn't extend the Affordable Airfares Program. In its report, LeighFisher said it considered passenger forecasts, historical growth trends in Wichita traffic and in aviation, and independent forecasts by the Federal Aviation Administration. It also took into account continuation of the Affordable Airfares Program and re-examined construction cost estimates and the cost to renovate the existing terminal building. Our conclusion is we're still confident in the baseline projections, said William Flock, associate director of LeighFisher. We think they're reasonable. Construction costs and bond rates could increase and the cost to maintain the existing terminal will be fairly significant, he said. In addition, the FAA has already committed grants to the project. The current terminal is aging and in need of major repairs. For example, new Homeland Security requirements have created a need for more behind-the-scenes baggage inspection areas. Electrical, heating and cooling, and other infrastructure needs to be replaced. The current building also lacks a spacious greeting area for arriving travelers. Renovating the existing 50-year-old terminal would cost about 150 million, nearly as much as building a new one. Board member Dave Murfin said he'd like to wait to see what will happen with the Legislature before moving forward. Airport director Victor White suggested that bids for the terminal's construction could go out while waiting on the Legislature to act. The terminal would be paid with passenger facility charges, airport revenue from airlines, concessions and other income and grants. The airport would also pay for it with bond money paid back from five to 30 years. If the City Council approves the project, construction would take 36 months after awarding of the bid. The terminal would open in 2014. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Tue, 21 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article124.html#1337548586 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article124.html Wichita aircraft interior company Millennium Concepts is working on a project designing and building passenger and crew seats for Piper Aircraft's new very light jet, the PiperJet. The contract is a huge feather in our hat, Millennium's president and managing director Kevin Reifschneider said Thursday. We're pretty excited about this program. The company is now focused on the development and certification phase of the project. By the end of the year, Millennium plans to add two or three additional engineers. Eventually, it will open another production line to build the seats, Reifschneider said. The company expects to add about 10 manufacturing and assembly employees in 2012 and five or 10 more in 2013. Millennium Concepts currently employs 35 people. Piper chose Millennium Concepts because the company offered a seat that would fit our needs, said Piper's director of marketing Jackie Carlon. They have a proven track and history in this industry. First delivery of the 2.12 million jet is scheduled for early 2013. The plane will provide seating for up to seven people. The seats for the PiperJet are lighter in weight and have been ergonomically designed, the company said. They've been tested to withstand 30 times the force of gravity, or 30 Gs. A mock-up of the PiperJet, including the seats, will be on display next month at the National Business Aviation Association's annual convention in Atlanta. Millennium Concepts was founded in 1999 by former Bombardier Aerospace engineers and designers who left to start their own engineering and aircraft completions firm. Since it opened, Millennium has done the interiors of aircraft for professional sports teams, movie stars, heads of state and Las Vegas casinos. Its customer base includes Bombardier Aerospace, Associated Air Center, B/E Aerospace, Diamond Aircraft, Embraer, Gore Design, Hawker Beechcraft, the Nordam Group, Quest Aircraft and Yingling Aviation. See the original article by Molly McMillin at. Fri, 24 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article125.html#1337548587 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article125.html Southwest Airlines announced Monday that it's buying rival discount carrier AirTran Airways in a deal for cash and assumed debt valued at 3.42 billion. AirTran operates three daily flights from Wichita Mid-Continent Airport to its Atlanta hub. Wichita City Manager Robert Layton said it is too early to speculate on what the change will mean to the Wichita market. I'm sure they'll be a lot of discussions with the merged carrier between now and then, Layton said. We're very hopeful that we're going to maintain a low-cost carrier. The deal will combine two of the country's largest low-fare airlines and give Southwest a bigger slice of the market in the Northwest and Atlanta, the nation's busiest hub. The move gives Southwest, which carries more passengers than any other American airline, access to 37 new cities. Southwest and AirTran together serve 106 U.S. cities along with Mexico and the Caribbean with 685 all-Boeing aircraft. Together, they employ 43,000 people. Southwest would likely retain its Atlanta service in Wichita, said Boyd Group airline analyst Mike Boyd. Only because you (Wichita) drag in passengers that are business travelers from all over the country, Boyd said. Business travelers are what (airlines) want. If you were a vacation destination, I'd say the writing's on the wall. One question is whether Southwest will continue operating in markets where AirTran gets a subsidy to underwrite losses, as it does in Wichita, Boyd said. AirTran has collected revenue guarantees each of the eight years it's had service in Wichita. If AirTran cannot make a profit in Wichita, there's no way Southwest can. Southwest has higher costs (than AirTran), Boyd said. You don't have enough traffic. Still, Boyd doesn't expect Southwest to pull the Wichita service. At worst, it will be a wash, Boyd said. Wichita State University associate professor of marketing Dean Headley said Southwest's presence could ultimately be good for Wichita. Southwest was thinking about coming here anyhow, Headley said. Southwest has been in talks with city and airport officials about beginning service in 2011 from Wichita to Las Vegas, Dallas and St. Louis, with the St. Louis flight continuing on to Chicago. Talks were recently suspended after Southwest said it didn't plan to add destinations next year. There was a concern about Southwest's entrance into Wichita and what affect it would have on AirTran. It's entirely probable that AirTran would have left, Headley said. Now, that's not an issue. And Southwest wasn't asking for a lot of subsidies to begin service here - only a few million dollars a year for a couple of years, he said. People have a favorable impression of Southwest, Headley said. If there's (additional) traffic to be had, Southwest will bring it out of the woodwork, he said. Everybody likes them.... It seems like they're the darling of the industry. Randy Jarman drove from Tulsa to Wichita on Monday to catch AirTran's afternoon flight to Atlanta for a business trip. AirTran and Southwest are the two best airlines, Jarman said. This is a real positive partnership. Both offer attractive fares, but Jarman drives to Wichita for AirTran because Southwest doesn't offer direct flights to Atlanta from Tulsa. Steve Haworth also took AirTran's afternoon flight from Mid-Continent. Those are two of my favorite airlines because they have a lot of Boeing aircraft, said Haworth, a former Boeing employee who now lives in Connecticut. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2011, but it will be 2012 before the airlines will be full integrated. The deal must be approved by regulators and shareholders. Until the acquisition is finalized, both carriers will continue to operate independently. Eventually, AirTran's former routes will be changed to Southwest's model of no charge for the first or second checked bag, no change fees and no assigned seating. The acquisition may also spell the end of the deep-discount sales currently offered by AirTran and Southwest because there will be less competition. The era of irrational, stupid, destructive fare sales is over, said fare expert George Hobica. This is the new normal. The purchase will also put Southwest in direct competition with Delta Air Lines at its Atlanta hub. It's a perfect fit, Maxim Group analyst Ray Neidl said of Southwest's purchase. They're getting a very good asset while also eliminating a competitor that would have overlapped them eventually. See the original article by Molly McMillin at. Tue, 28 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article126.html#1337548588 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article126.html NBAA2010: Where Business Aviation Powers BusinessOctober 19-21, 2010 Atlanta, GANBAA2010 will feature Exhibits at the magnificent Georgia World Congress Center, a Static Display of Aircraft on DeKalb Peachtree Airport, over 100 Education Sessions and Maintenance and Operations Sessions (MOs), and nearly 25,000 business aviation professionals who are interested in seeing and learning about all that is new in the world of business aviation. For more information, please visit. Fri, 01 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article127.html#1337548589 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article127.html TECT Power's renovation and move to a former machine shop on Southwest Boulevard represents more than a place to build large aerospace components. The recent move from a leased facility sends a message to customers that the business is here for the long haul, officials said. Because it worked out of a rented facility, some wondered about its longevity in Wichita, said David Nolletti, TECT vice president for strategy, marketing and business development. It's important for our customers to see we're investing in this business, Nolletti said. We're going to be here in Wichita, and we're going to grow. With the investment, it's much easier to make sales calls now, said TECT Power general manager Derek Hallmark. TECT acquired the former LS Machine building at 2019 Southwest Blvd. when it bought Tru-Circle in 2004. TECT operated a machine shop out of the facility, but has since moved those operations to a plant in Park City. The company then gutted and renovated the 43,000-square-foot building, in what will be a 2.7 million project. The site employs 17 workers and is expected to grow to 26 in two years. In all, TECT employs about 300 at facilities in Wichita, Park City and Wellington. The southwest Wichita facility makes large finished parts measuring up to 180 inches on the outside diameter, primarily for the aerostructures industry. It operates 15 lathes and several milling machines. Because of the ability to retain the close tolerances on such a large part, I'm a unique business, Hallmark said. Customers include GE, Spirit AeroSystems, Pratt Whitney and Rolls Royce. It builds parts for the 787, 737, 777 and C-17 from aluminum, steel, titanium, nickel and high-temperature alloys. Business is growing, Nolletti said. Derek and his team are improving market share and have gotten on new programs for us as a company. Revenue is expected to grow 40 percent next year at the renovated facility, he said. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Wed, 29 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article128.html#1337548590 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article128.html Hawker Beechcraft and Machinists union officials will meet with Gov. Mark Parkinson in Topeka today in response to Louisiana's offer to move the entire company to Baton Rouge, union officials said. Sources have said that Louisiana has raised its offer from 100 million for production of one of Hawker Beechcraft's product lines to 400 million for the company's entire operation. The company employs 7,000 people, including 6,000 in Wichita. Parkinson's office would not confirm today's meeting, but said he will hold a news conference or put out a statement late today about Hawker. Machinists international president Tom Buffenbarger said the meeting offers an opportunity to make a pitch to the governor jointly - the company and the union - for assistance from the state of Kansas to help solidify a big chunk of those jobs (for Kansas). Parkinson is working to find resources for the company, said Buffenbarger, who added Kansas is being raided by other states. The state of Kansas needs a strategy and it needs to find the resources to help ... the companies that have been so important to Kansas, he said. The Machinists union will send Rich Michalski, international general vice president, to the meeting; Hawker Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture also will attend, Buffenbarger said. Spokeswomen for Hawker Beechcraft and for the governor's office declined to confirm the meeting. We don't comment on anything that's not on the governor's public calendar, said Parkinson's spokeswoman, Amy Jordan Wooden. That includes meetings with individuals or groups.'' Still, Wooden said, we are going to do everything we can to keep the majority of the jobs. The possibility of the company relocating outside of Kansas is of critical importance to Wichita and the state, she said. The Department of Commerce and the Governor remain actively engaged in trying to preserve as many jobs as possible at Hawker Beechcraft in Wichita, Wooden said in a statement. We need to look to see if there are incentives that make sense for the state.'' Louisiana economic development officials did not return calls for comment. Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret told the Baton Rouge Advocate that he couldn't confirm or deny that the state has made an offer to Hawker Beechcraft. We really can't comment on prospects, Moret told the Advocate. In the meantime, the Machinists union has postponed negotiations with the company on a new contract and the vote on the offer scheduled for Saturday. Further negotiations will be contingent upon what Gov. Parkinson can do, the union said. The union had opened contract talks a year early with the company. If Kansas were able to make an offer to HBC that could save some Wichita jobs, the membership ratifying a renegotiated contract would be a key part of the final deal to keep those jobs in Wichita, the union said in a flier to members on Saturday. Hawker Beechcraft, faced with a down aviation industry, high debt and global competition, is cutting costs. The market hasn't come back to the degree that everybody had hoped... at this point in time, said U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, the Republican candidate for governor. Kansas is in a fight for aviation jobs because they are high-skill, high-wage jobs, he said. The state needs to match fire with fire, and I think we will, he said. In addition, we're going to have to be competitive on labor productivity. Brownback said that Boisture has indicated in conversations with him that he wants to keep Hawker Beechcraft in Wichita -if they can get their prices competitive here. ... They are doing everything they can to get costs down.'' The company was founded as Beech Aircraft in Wichita in 1932 by Walter and Olive Ann Beech. In 2006, Onex Corp. and GS Capital Partners bought the company, then named Raytheon Aircraft, and renamed it Hawker Beechcraft. It is now owned by Onex and Goldman Sachs. In July, Boisture told The Eagle that the company had narrowed the places it was looking to put work outside of Wichita to Louisiana and Mississippi. Boisture said a series of decisions would be made, including decisions on the company's footprint in Wichita, within the next few months. Parkinson told The Eagle in July that the state would do everything it could to keep jobs in Wichita, even if it takes calling a special session of the Legislature. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Tue, 05 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article129.html#1337548591 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article129.html Machinists union officials expect to receive Hawker Beechcraft's final contract offer today. The union presented a counterproposal to the company on Monday. Machinists spokesman Bob Wood declined to say how talks are going. Members of Machinists Local Lodge 733 are scheduled to vote Saturday at the Kansas Coliseum Pavilion on whether to accept the company's offer. Doors will open at 9 a.m. A meeting to explain the offer and answer questions will begin at 10 a.m. Polls will close at 1:30 p.m. Ratification requires a simple majority. There will be no strike vote. The union opened negotiations with the company in August - a year early - as Hawker Beechcraft strives to cut costs. A lot is riding on the outcome. Hawker Beechcraft has received an offer from Louisiana to move its operations to Baton Rouge. But last week the company reached an agreement with Kansas to keep the vast majority of jobs in Wichita contingent on a new long-term contract with the Machinists union. Talks between the company and union broke off more than a week ago so the company and union could meet with Gov. Mark Parkinson. They resumed on Friday. Parkinson said the state's agreement with Hawker Beechcraft would include a guarantee similar to one forged with Bombardier Learjet in July. The state offered Bombardier Learjet 27 million in bond financing in exchange for keeping assembly of its new Learjet 85 business jet in Wichita. In addition, Bombardier agreed not to move any existing operations out of Wichita during the life of the bonds. Learjet 85 production will support 600 jobs, including 300 new positions. The bond financing to Learjet will be repaid from the employees' income taxes that would have otherwise gone into the state's general fund. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Tue, 12 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article130.html#1337548592 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article130.html ATLANTA - Companies that use business aircraft are outperforming similar-sized companies that don't, according to a study released this week at the National Business Aviation Association convention.As a group, small to midsize businesses that used business aircraft to conduct business achieved better financial results, were less affected by the recession and had better access to customers and markets not readily accessible otherwise, according to the report done by NEXA Advisors. That helped them retain customers and secure new sources of revenue, it said. The study examined how SP SmallCap 600 companies performed in enterprise value, revenue and profit growth and asset efficiency in the past five years. As part of the study, researchers identified those that operated business aircraft and conducted interviews with companies. The companies were classified as users or nonusers. A user was any company or its officers authorizing use of aircraft through aircraft ownership, fractional ownership, charter or any other form of operation as an aid in conducting business. Individual performance varied, but when taken as a group, the study found business aviation users were more successful at returning value to shareholders, with total return - stock price appreciation and dividends -245 percent higher than nonusers. It also found that: * Users generated more income based on productivity and efficiency, outperforming in earnings. * Users had 70 percent higher return on assets, 40 percent higher return on equity and 21 percent higher asset turnover. * Users had 22 percent higher average revenue growth because they could tap into more growth opportunities. Winglet winWinglet Technology's Bob Kiser has been smiling a lot at the convention. Cessna Aircraft selected the company's elliptical winglets for its revamped, larger version of its Citation X business jet, called the Citation Ten. The elliptical winglet shape will increase the aerodynamic performance across a range of speeds and operating conditions, the company said. Winglet Technology, located at 8200 E. 34th St. North, was founded in 2001. The company received a patent for the winglet in 2002. Getting touchyThe Citation Ten will feature touch screens for use in cabin management. Passengers can touch the screen to watch movies, listen to music or access moving maps, among other things. You know how frustrating it is to look out an aircraft window and wonder what that river is you're seeing or where you are? The moving map will give that information, Cessna spokesman Doug Oliver said while sitting inside the Cessna Ten mockup at the DeKalb Peachtree Airport. The cabin is 15 inches longer than the Citation X, and that extra room is in the passenger seating. And there are changes in cabin lighting. For one, it will be able to change colors. In the mock-up, blue lighting led the way along the cabin floor. But the colors can change to match moods or company and sports team colors. Learjet 85 plantsBombardier Aerospace celebrated its 185,000-square-foot Learjet 85 aircraft component manufacturing facility in Queretaro, Mexico on Thursday. Mexican President Felipe Calderon attended the event, as did Bombardier CEO Pierre Beaudoin and Bombardier Aerospace president Guy Hachey. A 180,000-square-foot expansion of the final assembly site in Wichita is under way. The Wichita facility needed expansion to handle the larger plane, Bombardier Learjet's David Coleal said. The Learjet 85 is 40 percent larger than the Learjet 60 built in Wichita. Production of Learjet 85 aircraft components is under way, the company said. The program is on track for first deliveries in 2013. The program was launched in 2007. The company has 760 firm orders for the 18 million plane. We're very excited about the program, Coleal said. The plane is going to be fantastic. Aerion goes supersonicAlthough the business jet market is in a slump, work continues at Aerion Corp. on a supersonic business jet. The company worked with NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on a round of flight testing, the latest milestone in preliminary engineering activities on the 80 million jet. Data from five data flights on board a NASA F-15B aircraft are being analyzed. The next round of testing will evaluate supersonic boundary layer transition properties as they relate to manufacturing standards for surface quality and assembly tolerances, officials say. Both are crucial to the jet's production. The company continues to have about 50 letters of intent for the jet with 250,000 refundable deposits for each plane. The 4 billion order book has remained relatively steady, despite the downturn, officials say. In the meantime, Aerion is continuing discussions with manufacturers about a partnership to build the jet, said Aerion chief financial officer Doug Nichols. We are engaged, Nichols said. We're energized by the substance and pace of those discussions. The downturn has slowed progress somewhat. We're in it for the long haul, Nichols said. Wichita's Brian Barents is Aerion's vice chairman. Barents is former head of Bombardier's Learjet plant in Wichita and former CEO of Galaxy Aerospace. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Fri, 22 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article131.html#1337548593 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article131.html The sleek steel, glass and concrete boxes rising alongside North Webb Road - the new National Center for Aviation Training - suggest a gleaming future for Wichita and its aircraft workers.A ribbon-cutting on the 52 million, 230,000-square-foot complex will be 3 p.m. Wednesday. Already students are inside learning how to build and maintain airplanes. But this year has posed some uncomfortable questions for Wichita about its aviation work force. If Wichita's work force is the best in the world, as many enthusiastic promoters contend, how can Hawker Beechcraft threaten to move work to another state? Can other places easily create a cheaper work force from scratch? The state of North Carolina did it for a Spirit AeroSystems plant that opened this year. Independence did it for Cessna Aircraft more than a decade ago. Now, Louisiana apparently is prepared to try the same thing with Hawker Beechcraft. And, most importantly for Wichita, does a three-generation-long manufacturing culture and one of the deepest pools of engineering talent in the world give this city an edge in hanging on to the industry? The answer, say experts, is the work force is worth quite a lot, but it can be replaced. Could it be duplicated somewhere else? Sure, if a whole lot of money is spent, said Doug Stanley, chairman of the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition. Wichita clearly is vulnerable. Other states are willing to spend a lot to get an aircraft plant or company. And, in the downturn, all aircraft companies are feeling tremendous cost pressures. Hawker Beechcraft needs to cut costs in part to repay more than 2 billion in debt. And longer term, all Wichita aviation companies are girding for competition against companies with lower wage rates either because the small business jets are being built by nonunion labor or in other countries. The solution Wichita companies have come up with is two-fold: lay off, outsource and automate lower-skill jobs, and push for a new training center. NCAT makes the remaining work force more valuable, say industry and community leaders, by increasing the skills of those doing higher level jobs. It also speeds up the supply of new workers during good times. For Jeff Turner, CEO of Spirit AeroSystems, NCAT is critical for Wichita to hang on to its aircraft companies. There is a lot of pressure to go somewhere else, Turner said. Having a skilled work force in place is so important.... This is a long-term growth industry. I'm very confident that we will be back in growth mode before too long. How highly skilled?The value of a company's workers depends entirely on whether they are worth more than they cost. The tipping point varies from job to job, and from worker to worker. Paying 25 an hour to machine parts might be too much, which is why many of those jobs have been outsourced. But paying 40 an hour to an engineer to design a wing might be fine. Aircraft companies have been outsourcing lower-value jobs for more than a decade. But what constitutes lower value changes constantly - and almost any worker can be replaced given enough time and money. Experience is incredibly important in this business; it's tough to replicate, said Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst with the Teal Group. But if another state were to offer a massive subsidy, they might make it good. Still, many argue that there is something special about the Wichita work force. A history of aircraft work going back to the 1920s and 1930s has produced a widespread cultural expectation that work needs to meet a certain level of precision, say experts. It also creates something called tribal knowledge, which is the hands-on detailed understanding gained from the experience of doing a task. It's not something clearly recorded, so it has to be passed along from person to person, rather than through a company training manual. Having worked with some companies in the industry, I know the concept is alive and well, said Sue Abdinnour, a business professor at Wichita State University. There's a lot of 'We've always done it that way,' and 'We know how to do it and there's no reason to document it.' And workers will often say how high the skill level is. We have the best skills you find anywhere in this country, Spirit worker Bruce Richardson said. But even Richardson said that it might not take more than a few weeks for a mechanically inclined worker to learn how to do his job. The job is somewhat technically difficult, he said, but it also is repetitive work that involves standing all day. North CarolinaBut, really, how tough is it to find and build an aircraft work force in a new place? Spirit AeroSystems opened a plant to build the center fuselage of the Airbus A350 XWB in part in Kinston, N.C., a town of about 24,000 people in eastern North Carolina. The company ships the fuselages to Europe and picked a location in the Southeast for its proximity to coastal ports. Spirit received about 125 million in incentives, along with a building that it leases for a nominal fee. The worker training, through a program with nearby Lenoir Community College, was critical. These are very highly technical jobs that take a fair amount of skill, so we've got to have the work force training in place, Spirit spokeswoman Debbie Gann told a Kinston newspaper. The prospective work force: skilled and semi-skilled former textile workers, and former military employees from five nearby bases. Those skills are transferable, and these are folks that are trainable, said Mark Pope, director of economic development for Lenoir County. The Spirit plant opened in July with about 200 workers, Pope said. Over the next five years, it is expected to employ more than 1,000. There's lots of hands-on-type people that are floating in this area, Pope said. And North Carolina is a nonunion state. I can't say that did not play a part of it, too. That has important implications for any move to Louisiana. Business Facilities magazine ranked Louisiana's work force training effort the nation's best this year. The magazine cited the state's two-year-old FastStart program, which provides training tailored to the needs of a company at no cost. Bob Drechsler, a Wichita-based aircraft consultant, estimated it would take perhaps two years to train a work force elsewhere to do what workers in Wichita now do. The company would seed the new work force with Wichita transplants. Many of the engineers are used to moving. The key is what about the timing, Drechsler said. It's not something you can do on short notice. Turner said the North Carolina Spirit workers are fine, he said. But the Wichita work force is special. There is a depth and breadth that comes from 75 years worth of learning, he said. We don't anticipate there will be the same depth and breadth there, but for what they've been trained for they will be really good. NCATThe community is placing a 52 million bet that NCAT will help it hang on to its aircraft industry. It really doesn't have much choice, say community leaders. Doing it the old way won't work in the future. The industry needs more, and more consistently skilled, workers. It needs to be able to adapt quickly to new technologies. The industry also doesn't want to run into a labor shortage during boom times - especially given the retirement of the baby boomers. The college has a capacity to train 1,500 people at a time. NCAT is also intended as a beacon for those around the country or world who want aircraft skills. It is frankly sending a message to the whole aerospace industry... that this community supports the aviation industry, said Stanley, the economic development coalition chairman. NCAT will do wonders for the industry, allowing it to compete better, said Pete Gustaf, a venture capitalist who for a decade led the effort to improve work force training, eventually heading WATC until he resigned earlier this year. Fears about the industry leaving are overblown, Gustaf said. Yes, outsourcing of lower-skill work will continue and cost pressures will remain, but Hawker's threatened move is more about Hawker's financial problems than the cost and quality of Wichita's labor force. We're talking about an isolated thing with Hawker, Gustaf said. Learjet is staying; Cessna has a huge footprint. The high-tech stuff is here. So it behooves us to understand: if we got these people here, how do we keep them? See original article by Dan Voorhis Suzanne Tobias at. Sun, 24 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article132.html#1337548594 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article132.html LONDON - The mail bombs discovered aboard cargo jets in England and Dubai could very easily have ended up on passenger planes, which carry more than half of the international air cargo coming into the U.S., experts say.In Yemen on Saturday, Yemeni police arrested a woman on suspicion of mailing the pair of bombs that were powerful enough to take down airplanes, officials said as details emerged about a terrorist plot aimed at the U.S. that exploited security gaps in the worldwide shipping system. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh told reporters that the United States and United Arab Emirates had provided intelligence that helped identify the woman suspected of mailing the packages. She was held as part of a widening manhunt for suspects believed to have used forged documents and ID cards, Yemeni officials said. One member of Yemen's anti-terrorism unit said the other suspects had been tied to al-Qaida. Experts say that cargo, even when loaded onto passenger planes, is sometimes lightly inspected or even completely unexamined, particularly when it comes from countries without well-developed aviation security systems. About 60 percent of all cargo flown into the U.S. is on passenger planes, according to Brandon Fried, a cargo security expert and executive director of the Airforwarders Association. New jumbo jets flying in from overseas - like the Boeing 777 - have cavernous bellies where freight is carried, he said. Most countries require parcels placed on passenger flights by international shipping companies to go through at least one security check. Methods include hand checks, sniffer dogs, X-ray machines and high-tech devices that can find traces of explosives on paper or cloth swabs. But air shipping is governed by a patchwork of inconsistent controls that make packages a potential threat even to passenger jets, experts said Saturday. Security protocols vary widely around the world, whether they're related to passenger aircraft or cargo planes. That at least two parcels containing explosives could be placed on cargo-only flights to England and Dubai, one in a FedEx shipment from Yemen, was a dramatic example of the risks, but the dangers have been obvious for years, analysts said. Some Western countries, perhaps belatedly, are trying now to manage the risks. Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May said the device discovered early Friday morning at England's East Midlands Airport was potentially able to explode - and could have been used to bring down a plane. She said the U.K. has now banned the movement of all unaccompanied air freight originating from Yemen. France's civil aviation authority also suspended air freight from Yemen, as did the world's largest package delivery companies - FedEx and UPS. Big vulnerabilityOne particular vulnerability in the system: Trusted companies that regularly do business with freight shippers are allowed to ship parcels as secure cargo that is not automatically subjected to further checks. And even where rules are tight on paper, enforcement can be lax. A U.S. government team that visited cargo sites around the world last year found glaring defects, said John Shingleton, managing director of Handy Shipping Guide, an industry information service. They walked into a warehouse where supposedly secure cargo was, he said, declining to say where that was. Generally security is high, but if you think it's perfect you're kidding yourself. Cargo companies have long shipped on passenger airlines, for which cargo provides extra income. Passenger planes often carry the most-perishable goods shipped internationally, like live seafood, fresh flowers and even human organs. Authorities are well aware of the risks cargo aboard passenger planes poses, as shown by the decision Friday to have American fighter jets escort an Emirates Airlines passenger jet down the coast to New York to keep track of it until its cargo had been inspected. About 50,000 tons of cargo are shipped by air within the U.S. every day, according to the Transportation Security Administration. About 25 percent of that is shipped by passenger airlines. Mike Boyd, who heads an aviation industry consulting firm in Colorado, said cargo is often put onboard passenger flights at the last minute, similar to passengers flying on standby. Hole in U.S. rulesInside the U.S., new rules that took effect in August require that every piece of cargo be checked for explosives. Cargo is increasingly screened by X-ray machines and handheld wands - the TSA has approved dozens of new machines in the past two years that can detect traces of explosive materials. But those rules don't cover goods coming in from other countries. We've known for decades that freight isn't as secure - this isn't a surprise, security expert Bruce Schneier said. You can't protect every package. There's no way. Is it possible one of these devices could get on passenger jets? aviation safety consultant Chris Yates said. I'm not convinced it could on flights between London and the States, but it could get on from less secure parts of the world, including the Middle East. If you talk to anybody senior at airports, they will tell you freight is the weak link in the chain. Original article by Gregory Katz and Samantha Bomkamp of the Associated Press. To read more go to. Sun, 31 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article133.html#1337548595 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article133.html BEIJING - Boeing Co. raised its 20-year forecast of China's demand for commercial aircraft because of strong economic growth and more competitive Chinese carriers.Chinese airlines are expected to add 4,330 aircraft worth 480 billion by 2029, up from a forecast last year of 3,770 planes worth 400 billion, Chicago-based Boeing said Tuesday. Boeing, Airbus and rivals from Russia, Brazil, Japan and Canada are looking to China to drive sales as U.S. and European growth slows. Beijing also is trying to create its own civilian jetliner industry. Boeing raised its outlook because of China's strong growth, demand for midsize aircraft and the competitiveness of its airlines, said Randy Tinseth, vice president for marketing of Boeing's Commercial Airlines unit. We have seen a much stronger market than we anticipated for single-aisle airplanes, Tinseth told reporters. When we look at international traffic, we think that the Chinese airlines will grab a larger market share of that traffic than we did last year. Global airlines have rebounded quickly from the economic crisis. The International Air Transport Association, an industry group, said in September that airline profits this year should be 8.9 billion after total losses of nearly 26 billion over 2008 and 2009. In China, Boeing said passenger numbers should more than triple and airline fleets will double in size by 2020. China's communist government has its own aerospace ambitions and is developing the C919, a homegrown narrow-body, single-aisle jet. State-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, known as Comac, plans to deliver its first C919 in 2016. I don't think there is any question that Comac will develop a successful aircraft, Tinseth said. How successful remains to be seen. Despite rising competition, Tinseth said Boeing hopes to hold onto its 52 percent market share in China. He said Boeing has looked at what market share the C919 might capture but declined to say what it was. The rise in China of Western-style budget carriers could boost passenger numbers and aircraft demand, but Boeing expects only modest deregulation that would allow low-cost airlines to flourish, Tinseth said. We don't have the same type of open, deregulated market that you have in the United States or Europe here, he said. The opportunity for a true low-cost airline would be later rather than sooner. Read more at. Original article by Joe McDonald of the Associated Press. Wed, 03 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article134.html#1337548596 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article134.html Boeing could increase production rates of its popular single-aisle 737 aircraft beyond the already announced 38 a month, RBC Capital Markets analyst Robert Stallard said in an analyst's note Tuesday.Stallard took part in a meeting with Boeing senior management in Chicago, including CEO Jim McNerney. McNerney said an announcement of a further rate increase could come in the first half of 2011, given the plane's robust demand, Stallard wrote. That increase would affect Spirit AeroSystems, which builds the 737's fuselage. Boeing has announced that it is raising production of the 737 from 31.5 a month to 35 by early 2012, followed by another boost to 38 a month in the second quarter of 2013. Boeing management also reiterated that the company is more likely to replace the 737NG in about 2020 than develop new engines, Stallard wrote. McNerney also said that production for the 777 has the potential to go beyond seven aircraft a month and that a 777 upgrade could be pushed out to the end of the decade. Boeing management also confirmed that the 787's initial delivery remains on track for the first quarter of 2011, but delivery of about 30 aircraft will take longer than expected, especially those with Rolls Royce engines, Stallard wrote. That might mean that some estimates for 787 deliveries will need to be reduced for next year. Production ramp-up of the 787 will likely be longer and shallower than expected, he said. Stallard ranks Boeing stock as an outperform. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Wed, 10 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article135.html#1337548597 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article135.html Hawker Beechcraft will cease production of its Hawker 400XP light jet for the next two years in order to align supply with demand. We think the market will remain relatively depressed... in the range from 12 to 24 months, Hawker Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture said Friday in a conference call. The company reported its third-quarter financial results earlier this week. Boisture also told analysts during the call that the company is still evaluating offers from Louisiana and Kansas. The company's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission said decisions are expected to occur this year and into early 2011. We're continuing to evaluate different proposals, and we'll make a decision regarding them in the coming months, Boisture said. Boisture said Hawker Beechcraft received an offer from Louisiana to move substantially all of our manufacturing facilities. It also received an offer of incentives from Kansas to keep the majority of production here. However, the Kansas offer was contingent on successful negotiations with the Machinists union. The union rejected the company's seven-year contract offer last month. The union's contract expires in August, and Boisture said the company doesn't plan on re-opening talks early. Production of the Hawker 400XP will cease in January and is expected to resume in 2013, the company said in its SEC filing. We've made a decision that puts the future of that airplane out beyond the current economic problem, Boisture said. The company took a 7.8 million charge in the third quarter primarily related to inventory on the Hawker 400XP. The company delivered one 400XP in the third quarter, down from four a year ago. For the first nine months of the year, it delivered four, down from eight in 2009. In suspending the program, the company was careful to preserve all the technical data, work instructions and job guides to help when production resumes, Boisture said. We suspended this program as carefully as any one I've ever seen, he said. Hawker Beechcraft said Tuesday that it recorded sales of 594.7 million in the third quarter, down 163 million from a year ago. It also recorded operating losses totaling 81.4 million compared with losses of 721.1 million a year ago. The company took a 36.3 million charge in connection with a Hawker 4000 upgrade and enhancement program, it said in its filing. Hawker Beechcraft booked 516 million in orders for the quarter, which exceeded cancellations of 437 million. It's the sixth consecutive quarter in which new orders exceeded cancellations. The company delivered 49 planes in the quarter, down from 64 a year ago. Its company also has substantial indebtedness, it said in the SEC filing. As of Sept. 30, its debt totaled 2.14 billion, including 59.9 million of short-term obligations. In this difficult environment, we continue to reinvest resources and transformation of our business by realigning our business and our cost structure, Boisture said Friday. That transformation includes the previously announced closure of several Wichita facilities and the reduction of 800 jobs, he said. He called the work noncore and said it can be done more economically by suppliers and at its Mexico plant. The work is targeted to be moved by August. Despite the down market, Boisture called last month's National Business Aviation Association convention in Atlanta a success. We sold five new airplanes, booked 18.5 million in Hawker Beechcraft service business, and we generated a substantial number of hard leads, Boisture said. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Sat, 13 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article136.html#1337548598 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article136.html A Boeing contract will mean work for Hawker Beechcraft.Boeing received a two-year, 88.1 million contract for Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance Systems, a manned airborne intelligence system. It will use a Wichita-built Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350 for its platform. It's certainly a testament to the strength of the King Air, said Hawker Beechcraft spokeswoman Nicole Alexander, and it means more work for Wichita. The system will allow the Army to detect, locate, classify, identify and track surface targets, Boeing said. The initial contract is for engineering and manufacturing development for four King Airs with options for two additional aircraft and contractor logistics support. If the options are exercised, the work will span 42 months, Boeing said. Each King Air 350 will be equipped with an electro-optic and infrared full-motion video sensor, a communications intelligence collection system, an aerial precision guidance system, line-of-sight tactical and beyond line-of-sight communications suites, two operator work stations and a self-protection suite. It's definitely an important contract for us, said Boeing Phantom Works spokeswoman Deborah VanNierop. We're excited to have the contract and start executing it. The system is tailored to the Army's needs, Boeing Network Space Systems president Roger Krone said in a statement. The sensor and network capabilities Boeing is offering, along with the reliability and flexibility of the King Air platform, will provide the Army with a new level of battlefield mission support, Krone said. Besides work at Hawker Beechcraft and Huntsville, Ala., work will also be performed at Boeing facilities in Ridley Park, Pa., Hudson, N.H., and Salt Lake City, the Department of Defense said. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Tue, 07 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article137.html#1337548599 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article137.html COLOMIERS, France - The international aircraft industry will recover faster than expected, European manufacturer Airbus said Monday, predicting a need for about 3.2 trillion in new passenger and freighter planes globally over the next 20 years.The figure translates to nearly 26,000 aircraft, up slightly from an earlier forecast for 25,000. Strong growth in new markets and low-cost airlines in Asia will help propel demand. Though global air traffic historically doubles every 15 years, it is expected to do so in India and China in only six years, the company said. Airbus' 2010-2029 upbeat market forecast followed several recent setbacks for the European consortium. On Nov. 4, a Qantas A380 superjumbo, Airbus' star plane, made a safe emergency landing in Singapore in what was the most significant safety issue yet for the giant jet since it began passenger flights in 2007. On top of that, a French investigating judge has placed Airbus' chief operating officer, John Leahy, under investigation - a step short of formal charges - on allegations of insider trading in a longstanding probe targeting several executives of Airbus and its parent company EADS. The preliminary charges, filed Nov. 5 but not reported until days ago, give the magistrate more time to investigate and decide whether to send the case to trial. At least four other people face preliminary charges in the investigation, said Agnes Labregere of the Paris prosecutor's office. Last year, a similar investigation by the French stock market regulator AMF cleared EADS executives, saying there was no evidence they used knowledge of delays to the A380 program when selling shares or exercising stock options worth millions of dollars in 2005 and early 2006. Leahy said he was disappointed a judge was pursuing the case. We were all shown to be innocent by the AMF, who are the real experts in this, Leahy told reporters in southwest France. EADS released a statement saying it had full confidence in those involved. Addressing the Qantas emergency landing, Leahy criticized engine-maker Rolls-Royce's public relations after the incident, suggesting the company hadn't been forthcoming enough. An oil leak caused the plane's Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine to disintegrate in mid-air - an event that led to a global safety review of the world's biggest jetliner. The airplane performed very well, the engine didn't perform quite as well, Leahy told the Associated Press after the news conference, adding that Rolls-Royce is installing a software fix so the engine will shut itself down in case of problems. Leahy spoke at Airbus' delivery center, where a newly manufactured Qantas A380 was being readied for handover to the airline. Airbus' long-term forecasts were slightly higher than last year's, when it predicted that 25,000 new passenger and freighter aircraft valued at 3.1 trillion would be delivered from 2009 to 2028. The predictions are for planes by all manufacturers. The change reflects a slightly higher growth rate of 4.8 percent compared to 4.7 percent in 2009, the company said. It said most deliveries would be single-aisle planes. Airbus is at work on a version of its narrow-body A320, equipped with new fuel-efficient engines, to be ready for 2016. In the past decade, despite the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the economic crisis, global air traffic has increased 45 percent, Leahy said, calling the industry strong and dynamic. In July, Airbus' Chicago-based competitor Boeing Co. said during its annual forecast that the global industry will need 3.6 trillion in new aircraft over the next two decades, or about 30,900 new jets. The two companies have different criteria on the size of jets they include in their forecasts. Airbus looks at only jets of 100 seats and above, while Boeing includes planes of 90 seats and above. They also see a different future for the size of planes: Boeing says the world will need 720 large aircraft such as Boeing's 747 and the A380 in the next two decades. Airbus puts that figure much higher, at 1,740. See this article and more like it at. Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article138.html#1337548600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article138.html General aviation trade groups are urging Congress to quickly pass a tax agreement that they say will boost the industry by doubling the federal tax break for businesses making capital investments.That could help increase business jet sales, officials say. These proposals are extremely well-targeted to create jobs, stimulate innovation and get production lines moving again at manufacturing plants, Pete Bunce, CEO and president of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, said in a statement. GAMA and the National Business Aviation Association support the changes. The tax proposal, first outlined by the White House, would permit 100 percent depreciation of capital investments by businesses during 2011, retroactive from Sept. 8, 2010. It also would include accelerated or bonus depreciation of 50 percent during 2012. A bonus depreciation extension through the end of this year has already been signed into law. Purchases include aircraft, engines, avionics and other upgrades. Because of longer lead times, buyers of non-commercial aircraft will have an extra year to put the plane in service and qualify for the extra depreciation. An extension of bonus depreciation at the end of the year has given Cessna Aircraft a little shot in the arm, said Cessna president and CEO Jack Pelton. If they can get this 100 percent bonus depreciation in the tax bill for 2011, those are all things that are helpful and supportive of our industry, Pelton said. A second provision in the proposal is a two-year extension of a research and development tax credit. Its extension will encourage technical advancements and sustain economic growth in the industry, GAMA said. We believe the expensing provision will encourage sales of airplanes, engines and avionics in a market that continues to experience a very slow recovery from the recession, Bunce said. It will also benefit companies and employees of maintenance and completion centers that overhaul aircraft and install equipment. The Treasury Department has said that the proposed plan would stimulate 50 billion in corporate spending and 150 billion in tax cuts from 2 million businesses. It also has said that the government would recoup much of the tax savings over time because of the additional spending, costing the federal government less than 30 billion. The proposals are part of a tax deal hammered out by the White House and Republicans that, if passed, would extend Bush-era tax cuts for two years, extend unemployment for 13 months and create a payroll tax holiday. The Senate has mustered the 60 votes necessary for the measure to pass, the National Journal said Monday. Passage would send the bill to the House of Representatives. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article139.html#1337548601 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article139.html McCauley Propeller Services in Wichita has won a contract to test and produce a new four-blade metal propeller for the Predator B unmanned aircraft.The contract, from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, is for engineering testing and data analysis for the certification of the propeller and for its production. The engineering work will be performed at McCauley's headquarters in Wichita. Production for an undisclosed quantity will be done at the company's Columbus, Ga., manufacturing plant. Delivery of the new propellers will begin in 2011. McCauley is a division of Cessna Aircraft Co. McCauley has built a three-blade propeller for Predator B aircraft since 2006. It delivered 200 of the propellers last year. A four-blade propeller will enhance performance, the company said. The Predator B is a medium- to high-altitude unmanned aircraft used as a multimission intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike system by a variety of U.S. and allied customers. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Fri, 07 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article140.html#1337548602 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article140.html Boeing sales rebounded in 2010 from a low the previous year, a turnaround that ensures the jet builder will keep adding jobs in the Puget Sound region.Boeing announced Thursday that last year it sold a net total 530 jets. Those orders were worth approximately 49 billion at list prices, though according to data supplied by aircraft-valuation firm Avitas, the value after standard discounts is estimated at about 30 billion. That's way down from the 2007 all-time high of 1,413 orders, with an estimated actual value of about 106 billion. But in this economy, it's a solid recovery from last year's net order total of 142 jets, valued at just 4.2 billion. The rebound came as the world's airlines in 2010 soared away from two years of deep red ink. Projected to see 15 billion in global profits from last year, optimistic air carriers put down money for new jets. Though the broad U.S economy has shown scant signs of sparking to life after a deep recession, U.S. carriers United and American both placed big orders with Boeing in 2010. South American, Asian and Middle Eastern orders boosted 2010 jet sales even more. The sales uplift came despite Boeing's struggle to get its new 787 Dreamliner and 747-8 jumbo-jet programs back on schedule. Customers canceled orders for more than 40 Dreamliners during the year. And in December, Boeing lost two orders from air cargo lessor Guggenheim Aviation Partners for 747-8 freighters. That leaves the new jumbo-jet program with just 108 orders, still struggling for viability. Some other sales placed in the giddy years before the recession also melted away, with airlines canceling orders for 30 large 777s and more than 20 single-aisle 737s. Yet new sales of 625 jets more than made up for the 95 cancellations. The vast majority of the orders were for the Renton-built 737 single-aisle jets and the Everett-built 777 wide-body jets Deliveries of Boeing jets from the Puget Sound region's assembly plants were only slightly down in 2010 from a year earlier, again largely due to the prolific 737 and 777 programs. Not only did no 787s get delivered last year, but no 747s were delivered either. There was only a trickle of 767s: one jet per month. The future of the 767 rests on the outcome of the Air Force tanker competition, expected later this month. Defense-industry observers doubt Boeing's plane will beat out the Airbus A330 for that contract. Yet the 737 and 777 programs kept commercial-jet deliveries in 2010 roughly steady. The Renton plant rolled out 31 of the smaller 737 jets every month, a record pace. In the face of the recession, the wide-body plant in Everett cut 777 production by just one jet a month, down from seven to six. But that's to go up again soon. The absence of any 747 deliveries and the reduction in the 777 rate cut the 2010 total of jet deliveries to 462 airplanes, from 481 a year earlier. With the 787 Dreamliner and 747-8 jumbo-jet programs bleeding money because of delays in delivery, the company needs all the revenue it can get. That means it must churn out more planes from the Puget Sound region. Boeing said earlier it will pump the 777 production rate in Everett back up to seven airplanes a month in midyear, and in December it announced the rate will increase further to 8.3 airplanes per month in the first quarter of 2013. The 737 production rate in Renton is to rise to 35 airplanes a month in early 2012, and to 38 airplanes a month in 2013. And, of course, Boeing hopes that it can finally deliver some Dreamliners and some 747-8s this year. To meet those goals, Boeing will hire at a brisk pace in 2011. The Machinists union cites a figure of more than 1,400 production workers added in the last three months of 2010. After a meeting last month between President Obama and top manufacturing executives, Boeing Chief Executive Jim McNerney told Bloomberg News the company will add 4,000 to 5,000 jobs largely at its plants here and in South Carolina in 2011. Airbus will announce its jet sales and delivery figures for 2010 on Jan. 17. See original article by Dominic Gates at. Fri, 07 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article141.html#1337548603 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article141.html Spirit AeroSystems plans to hire hundreds of workers in Wichita this year as production on new and existing programs ramps up.Spirit also will hire workers for its Tulsa and Kinston, N.C., sites this year. In the near-term, Spirit plans to hire about 200 workers for Wichita and Tulsa, spokesman Ken Evans said Friday. The job openings, which are to be filled in the first quarter, are primarily factory positions, he said. Spirit and the Machinists union will co-host a job fair Tuesday and Wednesday at the Machinists District hall, 3830 S. Meridian. On Jan. 21, Spirit will host a job fair targeted at those who might consider moving to its Tulsa facility, which performs wing work for Boeing and Gulfstream Aerospace. It will be held at Spirit's employment office, 3420 S. Oliver. Spirit employs 14,000 worldwide, including more than 10,000 in Wichita. It's the city's largest employer. The hiring that's going on is measured hiring, Evans said. It's not throw the doors open, and we have to ramp up thousands of new positions tomorrow. It's too soon to give an exact number of jobs to be filled in 2011, Evans said. What we're dealing with are rate increases across different programs where job numbers are not the only issue, Evans said. There are also issues with expanded space, the right tooling (and) if you change processes in a particular way or not. Boeing has announced production rate increases on its popular 737 and 777 commercial airliners. Spirit builds the 737 fuselage and parts of the 777. Boeing is increasing 737 production from 31.5 a month to 35 in early 2012 and to 38 in mid-2013. Hiring also depends on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner schedule, Evans said. With delays on the program, Spirit has moved workers on the 787 to other areas. When they will return to the program hasn't been determined. In addition to the 787, Spirit has five other development programs that will be moving into initial stages of production this year: Boeing's 747-8 and P-8A, Gulfstream's G250 and G650, and the BR725 thrust reverser. Spirit also is working on the Sikorsky CH-53K helicopter fuselage. At the North Carolina plant, Spirit builds the center fuselage and wing spar for the Airbus A350. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article142.html#1337548604 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article142.html Apex Engineering International plans to add nearly 140 jobs over the next two years, the company said Thursday.The company, which has its corporate headquarters at 1234 Wellington Place, supplies aircraft parts and provides integrated assemblies for new and existing aircraft. In a joint announcement with the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition, AEI said it plans to invest about 8 million, including nearly 3 million in building and land purchases and building improvements to add 109,000 square feet of mostly manufacturing and assembly space. It also will invest more than 5 million in machinery and equipment. AEI intends to consolidate most of its Wichita administration and back office functions at its expanded 1812 W. Second St. facility after remodeling and furnishing offices, updating HVAC, lighting, access doors, computer and technology capabilities and security systems. GWEDC officials said the project secures the company's 180 existing jobs with plans for AEI to create 139 new positions over the next two years. The average annual wage for the new jobs will be more than 46,000 a year. The company has a strong desire to remain in Wichita, and this incentive package made that possible, Gene Johnson, AEI's chief financial officer, said in a news release. This incentive package and Wichita's business friendly environment will not only allow us to continue to expand in aerospace but also allows us to look at several Wichita opportunities beyond aerospace. The amount of incentives were not disclosed. AEI works with clients throughout the aviation and aerospace industry, including Boeing, Spirit AeroSystems, Lockheed Martin, Hawker Beechcraft, Cessna Aircraft, and Learjet. GWEDC worked with the county, city and Kansas Department of Commerce on a package of incentives to secure the capital investment and jobs. The Wichita City Council and Sedgwick County Commissioners will vote on the incentive package in coming weeks. We were able to make a good competitive case for AEI to invest here, and its level of capital investment is impressive, Vicki Pratt Gerbino, GWEDC's president, said in the release. AEI was formed in 2003 to purchase the assets of Apex Engineering Inc., which has been in operation since the 1950s. It also has an aerospace metal and composite bonding facility in Ada, Okla. Knowing we've secured more than 300 jobs is welcome news, Mayor Carl Brewer said in the release. As the 'Air Capital of the World' our strength is in keeping and growing our great supplier network as well as our largest companies. See original at. Mon, 17 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article143.html#1337548605 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article143.html Boeing could announce a new narrow-body jetliner to replace its popular 737 aircraft by the Paris Air Show in June, a leading aerospace analyst said Thursday.Airbus recently launched a program to replace the engines on its 737 competitor, the A320 jetliner, in a program called the A320NEO (New Engine Option). Airbus could announce 500 to 1,000 new orders for A320NGO at the Paris Air Show, wrote Morgan Stanley managing director Heidi Wood in an analyst note. That changes the game and could cause (Boeing) to accelerate plans, Wood wrote. Boeing officials discussed a new airplane by the 2019 to 2020 time frame during a conference call about the company's earnings on Wednesday. But we reason the new narrow(-body airplane) has to occur by 2017/18 for (Boeing) to retain its most important customers, Wood wrote. To compete, Boeing is weighing the option of adding new engines to its current 737 before replacing the current model, or forgoing that step and going directly to a replacement airplane. Boeing CEO Jim McNerney said Wednesday that he feels the market will wait for Boeing's replacement 737 aircraft. This year, the company will weigh the options and work through what a new airplane would more precisely look like, McNerney said. Re-engining the airplane and introducing a new model would put the company's large backlog of 737 orders at risk twice as customers wait for new models rather than buy current aircraft. That would make sense only if development of a new plane waits until 2025 or beyond, McNerney said. In the meantime, Boeing is exploring what its customers need and what technologies would be available by the 2019-2020 time period, he said. The company is preserving the option, if we're wrong, to re-engine, but I don't think it's going to turn out that way, McNerney said. The issue is important to Wichita, where Spirit AeroSystems builds the 737 fuselage, pylons and thrust reversers. The 737 program is Spirit's largest. Last year, Boeing delivered a record number of 737s and is increasing production rates from increased airline demand. It's boosting rates from 31.5 a month to 35 in early 2012 and again to 38 a month in the second quarter of 2013. The narrow-body 100- to 200-seat market is important as new competitors enter the segment. Bombardier is developing a 130-seat C-Series airliner, and China is developing a C919 entrant into the market. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Fri, 28 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article144.html#1337548606 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article144.html Augusta-based, which has developed a variety of small, unmanned aerial systems and products, is growing and poised for more.The company recently got a boost fromtwo military contracts. One is a U.S. Department of Defense contract to develop a heavy-lift unmanned helicopter for surveillance and detection use overseas. The second is a 10 million, five-year deal with the U.S. Navy to perform payload integration and testing. After proving to the DOD that it meets its requirements, Flint Hills Solutions is expected to receive a follow-on contract for up to 1,000 of the unmanned systems, said Roger Powers, the company's president. It could be a very large production contract, Powers said. We just have to do a few things to our existing helicopter to modify it to meet the DOD's needs. The unmanned aerial systems weigh less than 55 pounds and must be small enough to fit on the back of a Humvee, fly for up to six hours at various altitudes, operate autonomously and have the ability to carry 10 pounds, launch quickly and hover in high, gusty winds, Powers said. We have a helicopter that precisely hovers in high, gusty winds within a couple of inches (of its target), he said. That means you can put a camera on there, put a sensor on there, and it's not bouncing around. Flint Hills has developed custom unmanned aerial systems, equipped with miniature high-powered cameras and systems for commercial use. They're being used by government entities for aerial inspections, emergency response, fire and rescue and other public safety operations. Flint Hills also provides the services and the training to operate them. The company has focused on the commercial markets and primarily public safety use, rather than the military. The military is finding us because we have systems that work, and they're relatively inexpensive, Powers said. The cost - from 50,000 to 200,000 depending on the model and how it's equipped - is much less than other unmanned aerial systems developed for military use, he said. We're talking about very expensive systems developed for overseas, Powers said. We're a fraction of that cost. Keeping the costs low is key for public safety officials and small local or state governments to afford them. Flint Hills also is preparing for higher sales because its products were approved to be listed in the Government Service Administration's procurement catalog by the end of the month. Flint Hills' products are the first unmanned aerial systems to be offered in the catalog - used by the military and government agencies - Powers said. Right now, we build one every two weeks, for customers, Powers said. With the DOD contract, we're going to have to stand up 100 per month. Growth plansFlint Hills developed the unmanned aerial systems and the technology they use. It buys the motors, blades, autopilots, global positioning systems, cameras, sensors and other equipment. It contracts with local subcontractors, such as Rapid Processing, to build some of the unique brackets and parts the custom aerial aircraft requires. Flint Hills has a small machine shop to assemble the aircraft before they're flight tested. We have to still build some of it ourselves, Powers said. Flint Hills is planning to build two facilities to take on higher production levels and for research and development, support, and training. The first will be built this year at the El Dorado airport in a partnership with the city. It will be used for flight operations and training. Last month, El Dorado and the airport received FAA approvals to operate unmanned aerial systems in its airspace. The city also partnered with Flint Hills to be the designated operator of the unmanned systems at the airport. Flint Hills and the city will jointly promote the airport for UAS operations to emergency responders, law enforcement, fire departments and state and local organizations. Powers expects pilots from around the country will come to El Dorado for training on unmanned aerial systems. Flint Hills will provide the technical support and the training. The El Dorado airport is perfectly situated for UAS use, Powers said. Other airports were too remote or too congested for safe operations. We thought it was a good niche for us, said El Dorado City Manager Herb Llewellyn. It appears to me that there's a lot of growth in unmanned aircraft. And this seems to give us the opportunity to get in that portion of aviation. The location for the second Flint Hills expansion has not been determined, Powers said. He's considering land the company already owns in Augusta, the Manhattan area or elsewhere in Kansas. In the next 12 to 18 months, Powers said he expects the company to grow from 12 employees to between 50 and 100 in a variety of positions, such as pilots, software, assembly, flight test, training, finance and supply chains. Because it's so specialized, Powers said it's difficult to find those with skills needed to work in the unmanned-aircraft field. Being close to a university or universities is important so he can access engineering students and others who would like training in the field. Flint Hills would like to develop a relationship with universities to bring in interns and train in specialized areas, such as pilots, camera operators or in the specialized assembly of the miniature aircraft. They can grow into this, Powers said. We can bring them in and use them to find out where their interests are. Everything we're going to teach them, they're not going to learn in schools - it's too advanced. The marketThe UAV market has had strong growth since 2004, driven by demand for intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance. The systems have been deployed to war zones around the world. The market for nonmilitary customers is emerging, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, an industry trade group, said in a report on UAS integration into U.S. airspace. Interest from civilian government agencies and commercial groups is growing, but it's small in comparison to the billions spent by the U.S. military for unmanned aircraft. Still, the potential is significant. The AUVSI estimates that in the next 15 years, more than 23,000 jobs could be created in the U.S. as unmanned vehicles integrate into the U.S. National Air Space System. Those jobs translate into 1.6 billion in wages, or 106.6 million in wages a year, the report said. Access to airspace will be the driver of new markets and technological developments, the report said. Significant growth in civilian and commercial markets, however, won't happen unless more is done to increase airspace access, the report said. Defining safe operations for the vehicles, setting realistic standards, achieving cultural acceptance and solving radio spectrum challenges are issues facing the industry and the FAA. The FAA has taken steps to address integration issues, but progress is limited, the report said. Still, requests for FAA approval to fly in specified airspace is growing. For example the FAA received 50 requests in 2005. That grew to 350 requests last year. The AUVSI group expects integration for micro-miniature and small unmanned vehicles to be fully realized by 2015 if the FAA stays committed to the effort. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Sun, 23 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article145.html#1337548607 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article145.html Boeing was the clear winner in a competition to replace the Air Force's fleet of aging mid-air refueling tankers, a victory worth potentially thousands of jobs for Kansas. Boeing beat out European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., parent company of Airbus, for the 35 billion contract, possibly ending the Air Force's decade-long effort to replace its Cold War-era tankers that has been marked by scandal and controversy.I think we structured a competition that was fair, that was based on a variety of factors, including price, including warfighting capabilities, including life-cycle costs, said Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn. And Boeing was the clear winner of that process. The initial contract calls for Boeing to design, develop, manufacture and deliver 18 tankers by 2017, with a follow-on contract for a total of 179 refuelers. The new tanker will be called the KC-46A and will fly for the first time in 2015, Boeing officials said. We're delighted with the news, said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. It's super news for Wichita.... It's a big victory for us. It's much-needed good news for Wichita, said Machinists union District 70 president Steve Rooney. We have seen a lot of the people laid off from the aerospace industry, Rooney said. This is the boost that I think we need and deserve here in Wichita and in Kansas to help with the economy. 50,000 U.S. jobsBoeing's tanker is based on its 767 commercial aircraft, giving new life to a program that has had dwindling orders in recent years. We're honored to be given the opportunity to build the Air Force's next tanker and provide a vital capability to the men and women of our armed forces, Jim McNerney, Boeing chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement. Our team is ready now to apply our 60 years of tanker experience to develop and build an airplane that will serve the nation for decades to come. Boeing reaffirmed Thursday that it expects the tanker to support 50,000 U.S. jobs at Boeing and its suppliers. Boeing will use 80 suppliers in 40 states. Spokesman Bill Barksdale said last year that 7,500 of those jobs would be in Kansas. That includes existing and new jobs at Boeing and its suppliers, and other jobs created in the community. Boeing Wichita will be the finishing center to convert the jets into tankers. Spirit AeroSystems builds the forward section for the 767. Boeing said previously that its victory would have an economic impact of 388 million a year in Kansas. Former Rep. Todd Tiahrt, a Republican from Goddard, said he was happy with the win. Tiahrt, who left office this year after an unsuccessful run for Senate, was a staunch advocate for a Boeing tanker. I wish it would have happened on my watch like it should have, said Tiahrt, who worked at Boeing Wichita before being elected. But I'm glad it happened. Now we've got work nailed down for the future. Without the tanker work, Tiahrt said he was concerned Boeing would leave Wichita. If you look at what was going on in the next couple of years, it was going to be pretty lean at the modification facility, he said. Dennis Muilenburg, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space and Security, wouldn't speculate on that. Wichita has been an important part of our tanker team, he said in a conference call. We are very proud of our team in Wichita. They do great work for our customers across a number of programs. Boeing Wichita will be a key element of the tanker program going forward. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said the decision was great news for the state's economy. Wichita has long been known as the 'Air Capital of the World,' and will live up to that reputation as thousands of skilled Kansans get to work on building the next generation tanker, Moran said in a news release. Sedgwick County Commissioner Tim Norton said the tanker win will boost spirits in Wichita. If I was still in retail, I'd be looking for a really good Easter and spring, and a great back-to-school season, said Norton, a former Target store manager. Fair, open processThe competition was a fair, open and transparent process, Air Force officials said. The choice was made after multiple internal reviews from an evaluation team of more than 230 people from multiple agencies. Both companies turned in strong bids, meeting all 372 mandatory requirements, the Air Force said. The difference came down to price. Boeing's bid for the fixed-price contract was more than 1 percent less than the EADS proposal. Had it been within 1 percent, 93 nonmandatory would have come into play. Because the difference between the total evaluated prices in present value terms was greater than 1 percent, yielding substantial savings to the taxpayer, the nonmandatory capabilities, while evaluated, were not used in determining the outcome, said Michael Donley, Secretary of the Air Force. Most analysts and experts expected EADS to win the contract because its tanker would likely have the lowest price. Boeing's price was so aggressive that they had their board of directors review it before submitting it, said Loren Thompson, a Lexington Institute defense analyst. They felt it was too risky to go any lower because they might end up losing money on the contract. EADS offered a tanker based on its A330 wide-body commercial airliner, which is larger than the 767. The selection was based not only on development and production costs, but also on the costs to maintain and operate the aircraft over a 40-year life cycle, Muilenburg said. Boeing's tanker burns 24 percent less fuel than the Airbus plane, he said. This is the Air Force's third attempt to buy new tankers. Boeing first won the contract in 2003, but the deal was scuttled amid an ethics scandal involving a government procurement officer and Boeing officials. A second contract was awarded to EADS and Northrop Grumman, but it was overturned after the Government Accountability Office said the rules had been changed to favor the EADS/Northrop team. Asked about a potential protest this time, Donley, the Navy Secretary, said: We think we've established a clear, transparent and open process. We think we've executed on that and it will not yield grounds for protest. Last week, EADS North American chairman Ralph Crosby Jr. said that unless there was some egregious process error, he wouldn't expect the company to protest. But in a statement Thursday, Crosby seems to leave the possibility open. This is certainly a disappointing turn of events, and we look forward to discussing with the Air Force how it arrived at this conclusion, he said. With a program of such complexity, our review of today's decision will take some time. Work will not wait for a potential protest, Pentagon acquisitions chief Ashton Carter said. We'll get started right away. EADS had said that 48,000 jobs in the U.S. would be created or supported by its tanker program. Of those, 1,500 would have been in Mobile, Ala., where EADS had planned to build a plant. There will be two follow-on contracts for tankers beyond the initial 179 that EADS would have another chance to bid on. I think there was a lot of disappointment, disbelief and the combination of both, said Connie Hudson, county commissioner for Mobile County. We really felt very positive about the outcome today. Because of our previous experience dealing with this issue, we felt EADS had a superior product for the money. Still, Mobile has a lot of good things happening, she said. No reason to be down in the mouth here, but we were certainly hoping this would be positive, Hudson said. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article146.html#1337548608 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article146.html Bombardier Inc. (BBD/B), with no new orders for its CSeries jet in a year, may be reinvigorated because rival Boeing Co. (BA) wants to target a different slice of the biggest commercial jet market.Boeing said this week the company may build a successor to its narrow-body plane by 2019 that seats 150 to 220 people. That would leave the 100- to 150-seat category targeted by the CSeries basically unaddressed with a new airplane, Bombardier Chief Executive Officer Pierre Beaudoin said. Almost half of narrow-body planes in the air today, or 5,550 aircraft, are in that seat-range with an average age of 13 years, according to research firm Ascend. Beaudoin said he's believed since the CSeries inception that airlines would need to replace some of them. There is a substantial market there, maybe not big enough for Boeing or Airbus, but we feel for us, more than 6,000 aircraft over the next 20 years is a great market, Beaudoin said in a telephone interview March 1. Montreal-based Bombardier, the third-biggest planemaker, expects more orders in the short term for the CSeries, which is scheduled to enter service in 2013, Beaudoin said. He didn't provide a date. The successor to Boeing's narrow-body 737, the world's most widely flown jet, will probably be wider than the current model, Mike Bair, who heads the Boeing team studying the concept, said in an interview this week. The second-biggest commercial-aircraft maker, Boeing prefers building an all-new plane to offering new engines on the existing aircraft as larger rival Airbus SAS did with its narrow-body A320. Jet Fuel PricesBoeing, which still hasn't committed itself to a narrow- body strategy, will make a firm decision on whether to build a new jet and what size it would be by June, Bair said. The smallest 737 sold now starts at 125 seats. What the Chicago-based company decides is pivotal to carriers choosing between more efficient aircraft from the three biggest planemakers amid a 27 percent gain in jet-fuel prices this year. Airbus may not have a new narrow-body before 2027 as it doesn't expect enough engine technology advances before then to warrant a 10 billion development program, Chief Operating Officer John Leahy has said. Still, the A320neo, with upgraded engines, damages the business case for Bombardier's CSeries, Leahy said. Bertrand Grabowski, the DVB Bank SE board member responsible for aviation clients, concurred. Things Have Changed'Bombardier proposed a product that was definitely appealing, something airlines were ready to seriously consider, he said. But now, things have changed. With Airbus proposing the neo and Boeing expected to answer in one way or another later this year, any airline looking at the Bombardier plane will say, I shall wait. What is my incentive today to the move to the CSeries? Zero.' Since the Toulouse, France-based planemaker introduced the A320neo in December, it has received commitments to buy 150 planes from IndiGo, the low-cost Indian airline, and orders from Virgin America Inc. and Tam Airlines of Brazil. The CSeries has received no new orders since Republic Airways Holdings Inc. agreed to buy 40 jets and took options for 40 more about a year ago. Analysts have questioned whether that indicates a lack of demand for the aircraft, which will seat 100 to 149 passengers. Never Seen AgainThe aluminum-lithium and composite-plastic CSeries is a good airplane that faces substantial challenges, said Doug Runte, a managing director at Piper Jaffray Co. in New York. The 100-130 seat space is the Bermuda Triangle of airplane types, Runte said at the ICBI Geneva aircraft finance forum in late February. I can think of five or six planes -- some quite good -- that were launched and went boldly into this space, only to never be seen again. In 2005, Boeing scrapped the 717 model, a 100-seat plane it inherited in the 1997 acquisition of McDonnell Douglas Corp. Airbus's A318, which has comparable seating, drew only 83 orders from 1999, when the company committed to building it, through January, partly because it wasn't efficient enough. Defunct models with 100 seats or more include BAE Systems Plc's Avro and some products of Fokker NV, which filed for bankruptcy in 1996. What Airlines Want'Potential CSeries orders from carriers such as Qatar Airways hovered in limbo last year as airlines grappled with risking capital on a brand-new plane while contending with volatile fuel prices as the industry recovered from the financial crisis. It's getting down to crunch time, Richard Aboulafia, a Fairfax, Virginia-based analyst with Teal Group, said of CSeries orders. You need to see activity this year. Bombardier remains confident in the new jet, Beaudoin said. With 90 firm orders and 90 options, the CSeries is at the right stage for a brand-new development program and is sticking to its development schedule, the top customer concern after recent new wide-body aircraft from Boeing and Airbus were delayed by years, he said. Bombardier has climbed 7 percent in the past 12 months in Toronto trading, lagging behind a 9.5 percent gain by Boeing shares in New York and a 12 percent gain on the SP 500 Aerospace and Defense Index. Meet The Timeline'The best thing Bombardier can do is continue to test the product, develop it, prove that they'll meet the timeline they're talking about, Nat Pieper, the fleet manager for Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL), said in an interview at the Geneva conference last week. Decisions by planemakers have decades-long consequences and involve billions more in investments by engine makers such as United Technologies Corp. (UTX)'s Pratt Whitney unit, whose geared turbofan engine is the only turbine option on the CSeries. The Airbus neo offers a choice between the Pratt engine and the Leap-X from CFM International, a venture of General Electric Co. (GE) and Safran SA of France. The engines both offer about 15 percent efficiency improvements to start on new aircraft. Crazy NotionAirbus' Leahy predicted last month that Bombardier may have to abandon the CSeries if it doesn't see an order soon because the A320neo has logged orders quickly. What Airbus wants is irrelevant to me, Beaudoin said. What airlines want is relevant. The smallest neo in the A320 family, an A319 that can carry about 130 passengers, is really a product that's not competitive with the CSeries, Beaudoin said. It's 12,000 pounds more than the CSeries, so just by its sheer weight it will be a lousy performer. Bombardier projects that an airline might save 1.82 million a year flying a CSeries plane in North America instead of an Airbus A319, assuming an oil price of 100 a barrel, 2,000 flights a year and no cost for carbon emission and noise fees. Under European rules, which include fee and noise restrictions, the savings would increase to 2.4 million a year. What validates the market space is putting an aircraft that can deliver the economics in the space, Chet Fuller, who left GE's aviation unit in December to lead Bombardier's commercial sales and marketing, said in a Montreal interview. Fuller says Bombardier's goal is to have 20 to 30 customers including lessors worldwide, by the time the CSeries enters service in 2013. That gives the plane a kind of liquidity -- a market value for lessors and airlines to gauge its worth later. I love 10-aircraft orders, the more the better, Fuller said. Customer breadth. So if I gave the order book to three customers in the first five years, the program would be a complete failure. See original article by Rachel Layne and Andrea Rothman at Fri, 04 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article147.html#1337548609 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article147.html Qatar Airways Ltd. will decide by the Paris Air Show in mid-2011 on whether to order Bombardier Inc. (BBD/B)'s CSeries plane model, Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said today at a Berlin press conference.The state-owned carrier still is interested in adding to the five Airbus SAS A380 double-decker aircraft that it currently has on order, Al Baker said. See original article by Cornelius Rahn at. Wed, 09 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article148.html#1337548610 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article148.html Boeing Co. (BA) won a contract from OAO Aeroflot to deliver eight 777 airliners that the Russian carrier will use to expand its fleet before the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi.Aeroflot agreed to buy six Boeing 777-300ERs and two Boeing 777-200ERs, the companies said in a joint statement today during Vice President Joseph Biden's visit to Moscow, without giving financial terms of the contract. The order is worth about 2.2 billion, based on the catalog prices listed on Boeing's website. Carriers in the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose grouping of Russia and 10 other former Soviet republics will probably spend 90 billion buying 960 new passenger aircraft over the next 20 years as they upgrade and expand their aging fleets, Chicago-based Boeing said in October. These Boeing 777 airplanes will strengthen our network strategy, particularly the international growth opportunities we expect from our joint businesses with SkyTeam partners when servicing the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games and the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Aeroflot Chief Executive Officer Vitaly Savelyev said in the statement. See original article by Lyubov Pronina at. Wed, 09 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article149.html#1337548611 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article149.html Cessna Aircraft announced a number of product upgrades Tuesday at the Sun 'n Fun International Fly-in Expo, including an upgraded version of its Corvalis high-performance aircraft, the Corvalis TTX.The show, held in Lakeland, Fla., opened Tuesday and runs through Sunday. It attracted more than 500 exhibitors, including Wichita's Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft, Kelly Manufacturing, Belite Enterprises and Wilco. Cessna's updated Corvalis TTX features an all-new interior and paint scheme options, a redesigned cockpit with ergonomic features, human factors engineering and a touch-screen glass flight deck. It's the first touch-screen glass flight deck designed for a piston aircraft, the company said. The cockpit is a Cessna design called the Intrinzic and is powered by the Garmin G2000 avionics suite. We've taken an airplane with incredible performance and made flying it even more natural and instinctive with Intrinzic, Cessna chairman, president and CEO Jack Pelton said in a statement. The interface is so advanced, it's the same as what you'll find in the upcoming Cessna Citation Ten business jet. Buyers can choose from four interiors named Stealth, Tranquility, Classic and Twilight. First deliveries are slated for 2012. Cessna began selling the Corvalis after it purchased Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing and its line of Columbia aircraft in 2007. Cessna changed the name to the Corvalis. Cessna also announced that it's made improvements to the avionics of its light sport aircraft, the Skycatcher. Cessna has received about 1,000 Skycatchers from Shenyang Aircraft Corp., where they are built. The planes are shipped to Yingling Aviation in Wichita for re-assembly and delivery. Cessna has delivered 45 Skycatchers to customers, it said. Cessna also announced that it has teamed with King Schools and Redbird Flight Simulations to develop a program that uses guided video instruction with simulators for flight students to practice various maneuvers required for private pilot training. The program is called Guided Independent Flight Training and will be used at Cessna Pilot Centers. It was developed as Cessna looks at ways to lower the time and cost of flight training and to augment lessons with a flight instructor, the company said. Customers choose from an extensive list of maneuvers and are able to fly maneuvers as many times as they wish, allowing them to perfect their aircraft handling skills at their own pace in the low-cost environment of a simulator, Cessna CPC manager Julie Filucci said in a statement. Hawker Beechcraft launched a customer flight deck iPad promotion for its line of Beechcraft aircraft. Customers placing an order for a King Air, Baron or Bonanza will receive a custom-configured iPad with a one-year subscription to applications designed for pilots, ForeFlight Preflight Intelligence and Jeppesen Mobile TC. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article150.html#1337548612 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article150.html JGI would like to congratulate the Wichita State Shockers on their NIT Championship. Thanks for the great season! Full StoryNEW YORK - For two nights, the World's Most Famous Arena belonged to Wichita State. The Shockers own the souvenirs to prove it. WSU completed an impressive run through the National Invitation Tournament with a 66-57 win over Alabama on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. The Shockers won the school's first national tournament and enjoyed all the perks in their celebration on the court. I'm never going to forget it, WSU senior J.T. Durley said. I'm a champion. We're tough, and we pulled it out. The Shockers (29-8) cut down a net, each player saving a piece. Coach Gregg Marshall made the final snip, removed it from the rim and twirled it in jubilation for the fans to see. Friends and family on both sides of the court took pictures and video of the players in their NIT champion shirts. Junior David Kyles danced. Players and coaches hugged and mingled with fans while Frank Sinatra's New York, New York played in the background. A great trip to New York, WSU junior Garrett Stutz said. The biggest thing is we are always going to remember this day. Nobody provided better memories than senior Graham Hatch, named the NIT's Most Outstanding Player. Hatch sank two three-pointers, both from the top of the key, to snuff out the Crimson Tide (25-12) in the final minutes. The first, on a pass from Stutz, gave WSU a 61-52 lead with 4:17 to play. After Alabama missed three shots, Hatch's next three made it 12 points with 3:05 remaining. My shot felt so good tonight, Hatch said. I was never so confident shooting the ball than I was tonight. Coaches and teammates will say that confidence comes from four years of practice, wearing out managers, rebounding machines and coaches with extra shooting drills. In 26 years, I've seen a lot of players and I can't tell you one that's worked harder than Graham Hatch, Marshall said. Alabama isn't built for comebacks. Hatch's lefty shots made the final three minutes a buildup to WSU's party in the Big Apple. It's a game-changer, Alabama guard Trevor Releford said. He just kept hitting them. So did many of the Shockers. They survived 19 turnovers by making 50 percent of their shots and 7 of 15 threes against the tournament's best defensive reputation. Alabama hadn't allowed a team to shoot better than 50 percent since a loss to Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference Tournament. They made some wide-open shots, Alabama guard Charvez Davis said. Hatch made all four of his threes to finish with 12 points. Durley scored 12. Aaron Ellis and Stutz each added eight. WSU's changing defenses kept the Tide from finding a rhythm and forced them to shoot from the outside. Alabama needs to score in the lane, on fast breaks and on putbacks to be successful. Their depth, size and physicality was just too much for us, Alabama coach Anthony Grant said. We had success going inside and attacking them at the rim. They took those things away from us. The Shockers knew they broke Alabama when Releford missed a three with 3:35 to play. The Tide, down by nine, couldn't score in the lane. Three-pointers aren't their strength, and the Shockers made them a jump-shooting team and limited them to 2-of-14 shooting from behind the arc. Our whole game plan was to make them shoot tough, contested threes, Durley said. Their best offense is going to get it off the glass after a miss. Marshall commanded the whiteboard in the cramped locker room after the celebration. He wrote Big 12, ACC, Southern, Pac-10 and SEC, representing the conferences conquered by WSU in the NIT. Then he crossed them off as the Shockers cheered. With that, the Shockers exited Madison Square Garden to celebrate the school's first national tournament trophy. See original article by Paul Suellentrop at. Fri, 01 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article151.html#1337548613 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article151.html Market pressures might force Boeing to put new engines on the 737 before it can develop a brand-new replacement, an aviation analyst said this week. Boeing officials have said the company is leaning toward a replacement airplane and that the business case for replacing the 737's engines with more fuel-efficient ones isn't compelling enough.But Teal Group analyst Richard Aboulafia said Boeing might not have a choice. I'm sure they would love to wait for new technologies that would justify a clean-sheet design, but I don't think the market is going to let them, Aboulafia said. In the short and medium term, airlines must cope with high fuel prices. Also, rival Airbus is re-engining its competitor to the 737, the A320, in a program called the A320NEO (for New Engine Option). It recently moved up the time frame of when the plane will enter service by six months, to October 2015. Airbus has received strong orders for the revamped plane. That puts pressure on Boeing to make a decision. So far, Boeing hasn't lost any 737 orders to the A320NEO, Aboulafia said. But my theory is they will, Aboulafia said Tuesday while addressing the Wichita Aero Club. And when they do, they'll have to respond. The 737 program is important to Wichita, where Spirit AeroSystems builds the fuselage, struts and thrust reversers. About half of Spirit's revenue comes from the 737 program. Replacing the 737's engines would offer fuel savings of about 10 percent and could be brought to market around 2016, reports say. A new plane could be brought to market by 2019 or 2020 and double the fuel savings, the company has said. Boeing CEO Jim McNerney said on a January conference call about first-quarter earnings that he thinks the market will wait for a replacement aircraft. Now, however, there are signs Boeing is conflicted on what to do. It's stunning news, aviation analyst Scott Hamilton wrote on a Leeham News and Comment blog this week. Boeing has previously shelved the prospective 737RE (re-engine). Now, it appears to be shelving, at least for now, the prospect of a new plane, he wrote. He noted that Buckingham Research, a boutique New York investment bank, issued a note to clients saying Boeing may not get an 'approval of offer' for a new airplane until late 2012/early 2013,' Hamilton said on the blog. The investment bank had expected Boeing to announce a new airplane at the Paris Air Show in June but has changed that view. Hamilton wrote that Boeing appears split internally about what it wants to do. For one, there's a difference of opinion on what size a new airplane would be. Some think the plane should start at carrying 140 passengers; others think it should start at 180 seats. There's also a split on whether a new plane should have one aisle or two. In the meantime, Boeing is moving forward with a number of improvements to the 737 and talking to customers about what is the right product and the best solution, officials say. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article152.html#1337548614 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article152.html Milling machines, drills, grinders, punch presses and other equipment belonging to Hawker Beechcraft went up for sale in an online auction Monday.The items are part of Hawker Beechcraft's surplus machinery as it closes Plants I and II in Wichita and its Salina plant. Sixty items were included in the lot of assets for sale. Additional equipment will be added as consolidation continues. We anticipate getting many, many more items, said corporate marketing manager David Craig of Union, Mo.-based Stuart B. Millner and Associates, which is conducting the sale. The asset management company plans to hold a regular Friday morning auction to sell equipment from Hawker Beechcraft and from other sources, Craig said. That will start April 29. Monday's traffic on the website for the auction was good, Craig said. Still, in this business, you always want to have more people participating in an auction, he said. I'm sure the people at Sotheby's feel the same way. In December, Hawker Beechcraft announced it would close Plants I and II in Wichita by August and move King Air-related back shop operations from Plant IV. The work will move to Mexico and to outside suppliers. The company also is closing its Salina plant. Hawker Beechcraft is making the decisions of what equipment will move, remain in Wichita and be sold, Craig said. It's not been decided whether there will be an on-site auction at some point, he said. We're keeping all of our options open, Craig said. Items for sale are available for inspection in Wichita by interested parties, he said. The company has set up a Hawker Beechcraft asset hotline at 316-676-2039. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Tue, 19 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article153.html#1337548615 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article153.html Hawker Beechcraft is offering a free Lotus sports car to European, Middle Eastern and African customers who buy a jet or turboprop airplane between the start of Europe's biggest business jet show this week and the end of the second quarter, according to Aviation International News.Hawker made the announcement Monday, the day before the European Business Aviation Convention Exhibition, or EBACE, opens in Geneva, Switzerland. Buyers of Hawker jets will get a Lotus Evora, with a retail price of 64,000. King Air turboprop buyers will receive a Lotus Elise, with a retail price of 51,845. Cessna Aircraft said Monday that it will offer in-flight connectivity for its Citation XLS-Plus, Citation Sovereign and Citation X business jets beginning in 2012. The system, by Aircell, will allow passengers to send and receive e-mail, surf the Web and access a corporate VPN using their own Wi-Fi-enabled devices, Aircell and Cessna said. They will also be able to place and receive voice calls using integrated cabin handsets. Cessna Aircraft's service center has completed the 30th installation of Winglet Technology's elliptical winglets on a Citation X business jet. Winglet Technology, based in Wichita, received a Supplemental Type Certification from the Federal Aviation Administration for the retrofit in July 2009. Since then, winglets have been installed on Citation Xs from Europe, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Brazil and Mexico, Winglet Technology said. Cessna also announced an order for 10 Model 172 Skyhawks from the Turkish Aeronautical Association. And it opened a new Cessna Citation Service Center in Valencia, Spain, to augment its center in Paris supporting its fleet of aircraft in Europe. Cessna also plans to deliver three Grand Caravan 208B aircraft this year to an unnamed Vicenza, Italy-based commercial aircraft operator. Bombardier Aerospace announced that it has chosen four suppliers for work on its Global 7000 and Global 8000 business jets. Triumph Aerostructures will design and manufacture the all-new transonic wing at its Dallas plant, the former Vought Aircraft, a Wichita official said. Bombardier also selected General Electric Aviation to supply the integrated propulsion system. Aerolia will design and manufacture the center fuselage, while Hamilton Sundstrand will provide the electrical system. Intertechnique will provide the fuel system, fuel inserting system and oxygen system. EBACE runs through Thursday. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Tue, 17 May 2011 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article154.html#1337548616 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article154.html Wichita, KS -Wichita City Council gave the go-ahead Tuesday for a 200 Million dollar project to build a new terminal and covered parking garage at Mid-Continent Airport. The project is called ACT 3 for Air Capital Terminal 3. This will be the third airport terminal; the first was built in 1953. The plans for the new terminal include improved concession areas, shorter walks from ticket counters to boarding gates and improved security. The project should start within the next few months, and be completed in 2015. See original article at. Wed, 22 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article155.html#1337548617 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article155.html PARIS - Hawker Beechcraft is taking the market for military and special-mission aircraft more seriously than it has in the past and placing more focus on that business, CEO Bill Boisture said Tuesday at the Paris Air Show.Together, its military, special-mission and their support make up 50 percent of the company's earnings. Its products fill a major market need, Boisture said. There's more of a requirement to deal with small insurgencies and counterterrorism in what's been called irregular warfare. Such conflicts are difficult to address with expensive weapon systems, he said. And armed forces are facing constrained budgets. The AT-6 light attack aircraft is more cost efficient. Several months ago, Boisture said he leaned toward Air Force Chief of Staff Norton Schwartz and made a comment about the AT-6. Ten million bucks a copy, he told Schwartz. That's a lot of fighting machine. Boisture on Tuesday also spoke about the upcoming labor talks with the Machinists union, the exploration of a partnership with a Chinese company and how the restructuring now under way is going. The China marketWhen the Paris Air Show is over, Boisture will fly to China where ongoing discussions are taking place about the potential of a venture for final assembly of one of its airplanes for the emerging Chinese market. China has relaxed restrictions on low-altitude airspace and between now and 2020 plans to open more than 50 airports, Boisture said. That makes our airplanes much more usable inside China, he said. Those steps are a start at opening up the country for more business travel. Today, the business jet market in China is for jets with longer ranges. And government restrictions still limit the use of private planes. But China already is thinking about the jobs that will come with the opening of airspace and construction of infrastructure to support it, Boisture said. Having a partnership with China will encourage it to use Hawker Beechcraft business jets, Boisture said. Some preliminary decisions could be made on a partnership between now and the end of the year, he said. Restructuring on trackHawker Beechcraft is on track in its restructuring of the company, Boisture said. The company is closing Plants One and Two and moving the work to its plant in Chihuahua, Mexico, and to outside suppliers. We'll meet our goals for work transferred out of our plants by year end, he said. Most will be completed by August. The company would move faster if it could, Boisture said. But the current pace is manageable. At the same time, employees are receiving technical training through the company's investment and through a grant from the state of Kansas. By the end of 2012, we will have the best trained touch workforce in the industry, Boisture said. Contract negotiations between the company and the Machinists union open early next month. I'm optimistic on how these discussions will go, Boisture said. I'm optimistic that we've got two parties that are well informed about the situation and the economy. The company wants to talk about building a partnership with the union for the future, he said. It probably won't look like what we've had in the past, because it can't. In October, union members rejected a seven-year contract offer by a vote of 55 percent to 45 percent, rejecting 10 percent pay cuts and other concessions in negotiations that opened a year early as the company considered moving the business outside the state. Because the current contract hadn't expired, the union could not strike. The Machinists struck in 2008, the first time there had been a strike at the company since 1984. Special modificationsIn the special-mission area, Hawker Beechcraft now has a King Air demonstrator configured as a medevac to show potential customers. The plane is on display at Hawker Beechcraft's static display at the Le Bourget airport outside Paris. The company is upgrading King Air 350 aircraft so they will provide significantly more electrical power, key for some special-mission applications. In the meantime, Hawker Beechcraft is studying its King Air production line to see how best to standardize manufacturing processes for military use. That would make the process more efficient and less expensive. The question is at what point does the plane come off the commercial line to be customized for military and special-mission uses, Boisture said. Some processes could be standardized for all planes but used only for military modifications. It makes more sense than tearing into what's already been built. The company has reorganized the team and is focusing on these lines business. See original article by Molly McMillin at. Wed, 22 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article156.html#1337548618 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article156.html In yet another demonstration of why they are the top GA Manufacturer Cessna has recently addressed the challenges and realities of the global aviation market place. Drawing on the history of Detroit and the automotive industry Cessna has called attention to the fundamentals of Aircraft Manufacture. The problems of Globalisation and costs invite broad input and consideration. Despite the advances of robots and technology aircraft are still very labor intensive to manufacture and any manufacture who ignores this does so at their peril. The new strategy is to optimize the research, design, resourcing, manufacture, assembly and development cycle. Cessna looks to stay on the leading edge by grasping the nettle. Could Wichita be the Detroit of aircraft? BY MOLLY MCMILLIN The Wichita Eagle Wichitas business jetmakers sometimes think about Detroit. Not that many years ago, U.S. automakers werent too concerned about emerging foreign competitors. Productivity was poor, costs were out of control, and they became complacent, said Cessna Aircraft CEO Jack Pelton. Eventually, they lost their dominance. Wichita, as the Air Capital of the World, cant be in denial that what happened in Detroit could never happen here, Pelton said. We have to work to make sure we dont fall victim to similar circumstances, Pelton said. With the entrance of Brazil-based Embraer, where labor costs are lower, price competition is fierce. Honda also is entering the business jet market and many expect other global competitors will too someday. Wichita companies can compete, but weve got to get to this cost issue, Pelton said. It also will help as planemakers struggle through a down economy. The aviation industry is in a global sourcing environment, leaders of the industry said recently. I dont think we can think about the world in any other way, said Spirit AeroSystems CEO Jeff Turner. Its a controversial issue with unions and others who worry about high-paying manufacturing jobs leaving the U.S. But the executives of Wichitas manufacturers spoke openly about the issue at a panel discussion, with analysts and in Eagle interviews over the past several weeks. Its about competitiveness. Its about quality. And its about cost, said Hawker Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture. And in the end, how does the business persevere, survive and thrive. As CEOs, their primary job is to keep their companies healthy. If that means we have to go wherever to find the resources to get the job done capital resources, people resources and get it done cost effectively, were going to do that, Turner said. Company leaders, however, say outsourcing isnt something to be feared. Instead, Wichitas aviation industry must focus on how best to utilize the highly technical, highly skilled work force thats here and how to increase productivity. Weve got to be really good at the things were good at, do it at the places that make the most sense, and have a highly integrated supply network that has its headquarters and its key capacity in a place like Wichita, Turner said. Wichita must change the way it views its aviation industry, the executives say. The Air Capital cant continue to operate as if its the center of the aerospace universe but must recognize its a node in a vast global network that builds and buys aircraft, Turner said. Wichita planemakers are working with suppliers to bring down the cost of building an airplane. Theyre working internally as well. Everything is on the table. Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft are consolidating facilities. Both are shifting some work to Mexico. Bombardier also has a plant there. Cessna is shifting parts work from its Columbus, Ga., plant and some from Wichita to its facility in Chihuahua, Mexico. Moving that work cuts labor costs by 50 percent, officials from Textron, Cessnas parent company, told analysts last week.. When you think about the back room, a lot of the subassembly, a lot of the more labor-intensive work, a lot of that is what were moving and, frankly, we have to move that to more cost-competitive places, Scott Donnelly, president and CEO of Textron, said. Cessna will continue to make further assessments as time goes by, Donnelly said, although Pelton said Friday that the company doesnt have a plan to move more work beyond what it has announced. Like any of its Cessna facilities, its Mexican factory must be productive, Pelton said. Long term, the assumption is they will have a learning curve and get to a reasonable level of productivity, Pelton said. Well have to see. Boisture acknowledges that moving work from Wichita is a controversial subject. Everybody wants everything to stay here, he said. Thats an understandable emotion, until you look at your shareholders or your board and say, Yes, I can be here, but heres my margin. Suddenly, you become an enterprise that cant attract and allocate capital because youre not efficient enough with (it). Be careful what we ask for when we want everything to stay in one place, because that may not give our enterprises the economic answer that we all want in the long run. The Competition is no longer the guys across the street The move to put work in lower-cost countries is a direct response to high labor costs and finding less-expensive places to build parts of planes, Boisture said. Its no more complicated than that, Boisture said. The price of an airplane cant rise fast enough to cover cost increases, Boisture said. This is a company whose costs are constantly increasing, and the market is not paying us back at the rate theyre increasing, Boisture said. In the past, Wichita business jetmakers Cessna, Bombardier Learjet and Hawker Beechcraft primarily competed with one another, so costs were similar. In the future, literally its not going to be the guys across the street, said Textrons Donnelly. Theres every reason to believe new competitors will have lower cost structures, he said. In addition, the majority of the orders for business jets are coming from global customers. And thats expected to grow. That means were building stuff in the wrong place, because were going to be selling it, servicing it and delivering it on the other side of the word, Boisture said. That will take some flexibility to figure out what that means for the companies in the future, he said. outsourcing is not a zero-sum game, Spirits Turner said, although it can feel that way in the current down cycle. Spirit has been a big recipient of outsourcing. Its facilities do work for Boeing, Airbus, Sikorsky, Gulfstream, Hawker Beechcraft and others. Airbus turned to Spirit because the Wichita company was on its list of low-cost locations, Turner said. On the other hand, Spirit is outsourcing work as well. Youre going to see an ebb and flow as time goes on with those supply networks, as the value of the dollar improves and productivity of sites improve, Turner said. Some things will be done in-house, some not. With all the projects Spirit has in the works with customers around the world, the Wichita facility cant do everything, Turner said. Wed have a terrible time trying to design, build and ship everything out of Wichita, Turner said. Expectations, needs Long-term, the market will return and grow. Historically, each up cycle has been more robust than the previous one. We ultimately have a growth industry, Turner said. Eventually, the companies will need a trained work force. Theyre expecting a labor shortage when the economy turns around. Long-term, Cessna expects Sedgwick County will face a shortage of enough labor to support all its work, Pelton said. Cessna has an aging work force, and the number of employees eligible for retirement over the next 10 years is high, Pelton said. A work force shortage might sound bizarre considering thousands of Wichita workers were laid off in the past year. But a shortage followed the downturn in the early part of the last decade, Turner said. Its going to happen. Training is vital. Laid-off workers should be receiving stipends so they can get technical training today, Turner said. Its the knowledge of our workers that make the difference, Turner said. Theres no time to train and retrain when the market is booming. The city and state must work to protect aviation jobs in other ways. In a speech at last weeks Wichita Aero Club luncheon, Gov. Mark Parkinson implored members of Wichitas aircraft industry to keep jobs in Wichita if they can. Parkinson said he recognizes that some states and areas are working hard to woo jobs by offering lucrative incentive packages. But if the incentives from Kansas are even close, he urged them to keep the work here. Cessnas Pelton said Parkinson should have added one thing. He should have said that those incentives are a wake-up call for Wichita and for Kansas. Kansas must be sure it can stand on its own and compete. Its not about the state throwing a lot of money at us, Pelton said. Its about having capabilities in place. Keeping the aviation industry competitive is a skilled labor force, competitive labor rates and tax policies and treatments that support an industrial climate, he said. School systems must be able to support the industry, and the state must support the National Institute for Aviation Research and the work force training center, Turner added. There are a lot of ingredients, Pelton said. Wichita must be a dynamic place willing to change, Turner said. This aviation industry is an absolute jewel for Wichita, south-central Kansas and for Kansas, Turner said. We ought to have some serious strategies on how to keep it healthy. From: http://www.kansas.com/101/story/1180737.html?storylink=omni_popular#ixzz0fakuJre5 Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article157.html#1337548619 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article157.html HYDERABAD: TheCo. has an order book of 100 aircraft from India including 37 B-787 Dreamliners and plans to deliver them over four to five years, a top company official said. Dinesh Keskar, Boeing India president and Senior Vice President (Sales), Asia-Pacific and India, told reporters at India Aviation 2012 here Wednesday that the orders include 43 from Jet Airways, 40 fromand 30 from Spicejet. Boeing, which is showcasing thehere, plans to start delivering the aircraft to Air India in April-June. The state carrier has placed orders for 27 of these aircraft. Three Boeing 777s. Keskar said delivery of 10 B-787s towould only start in 2014. The private airline has also ordered 43 Boeing 737s. Spicejet will receive 30 Boeing-737s in the next four to five years. He was confident that Dreamliner, with its fuel efficiency, long distance capability with mid-size capacity and higher cargo carrying capacity would turn around Air India. Keskar did not agree that the financial problems faced by Boeing's Indian customers would impact on the deliveries. We have been prudent. We have been only selling to Air India, Jet Airways and Spicejet. We are making sure they have business plans and everything that make sense to us, he said. He also made it clear that Boeing would continue to build aircraft for these airlines, irrespective of the finance model they chose. He said that out of 33,500 aircraft worth 4 trillion the world requires in next 20 years, India would account for 1,320 aircraft worth 150 billion dollars. About 80 percent of them will be B-777 andA-320-type aircraft. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article158.html#1337548620 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article158.html A major Russian aeronautical research agency has launched preliminary design work for a quiet supersonic business jet that could fly over populated areas. The Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) will develop the preliminary design in partnership with several Russian companies, including aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi and engine maker NPO Saturn, TsAGI says. An official conceptual image of the aircraft shows it with a long, pointed nose and as many as four engines mounted on top of the aft fuselage. The aircraft also features twin vertical tails and long, thin wings. The Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) The goal of the project is to establish Russia's aeronautics industry as a technology leader in a potential new market for business aviation, TsAGI says. Sergei Lyapunov, deputy director general of TsAGI, says the broad spectrum of industry and research organisations involved in the project is unprecedented in Russian aeronautics. TsAGI says a preliminary assessment suggests the supersonic aircraft should generate the same noise level as future subsonic aircraft for the civil market. In addition to completing the design, the research team will also assess the promising domestic engines that could power the new aircraft. The concept of a Russian supersonic business jet has been on the drawing board for decades. In the early 1990s, Sukhoi partnered Gulfstream to develop a design of the S-21. Sukhoi continues to list a supersonic business jet on its website as an ongoing project, without elaborating further. Tupolev has also proposed the Tu-444 supersonic business jet, advertising 4h flight times between Moscow and New York. Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article159.html#1337548621 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article159.html Dianne White, vice president of corporate communications, and her husband, Tim White, vice president of sales for the Americas, have left The company confirmed their departure, saying they left to pursue other options. Tim White joined Cessna in 1998 as regional sales manager for Canada. Since then, hes held positions of increasing responsibility, and most recently, was head of sales for North America, Central America and South America. Dianne White joined Cessna in October. She came to Cessna after serving as editor of Twin Turbine and CJ magazines. ByPublished byPosted Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0500 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article160.html#1337548622 http://jgi.360hostserver.com/news/article160.html