By Brendan Sobie

British Airways is prepared to slash more capacity if the European Union extends its suspension of the "use it or lose it" slot-allocation regulation.

In early May the European Parliament agreed to suspend the regulation, which requires airlines to surrender slots not being used at least 80% of the time, for the summer 2009 season.

But BA had already made a decision to reduce capacity this summer by 2.5%. "Unfortunately the European Parliament only voted on the alleviation on 4 May so it was far too late from a planning point a view," says BA chief Willie Walsh.

The carrier is hoping the Parliament will extend the suspension to cover the winter 2009-10 season. "If we saw alleviation of the slot rule for the coming winter we would reduce capacity beyond the 4% [winter cut currently planned]," says Walsh.

© Simon Gregory/AirTeamImages.com

But he is pessimistic on the prospects of this happening quickly enough for BA and other European carriers to reduce capacity further this winter. He says Parliament has indicated it "wants to see a full impact assessment on the consumer" before voting on a possible extension of the current moratorium.

"The timescale for that will likely go beyond the decision point for most airlines," Walsh says, adding that, for now, BA "assumes the slot rules will remain in place". He points out that, before the onset of the downturn, BA had planned to grow capacity by 5.3% in winter 2009-10.

While BA is grounding Boeing 747s and 757s as part of the reduction, it plans to raise its short-haul capacity next winter to protect its slots at Heathrow. Walsh says capacity is only down 2% at Heathrow overall, compared with 14.5% at London Stansted.

"That's largely because most airlines operating at Heathrow are so protective of their slots," he adds. "A lot of capacity is coming out of the London market but it's not coming out of Heathrow. The main reason for that is the slot values."

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By Craig Hoyle

NATO's most recent expansion, in March 2004, included Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which were collectively unable to defend their airspace from potential threats. The duty of providing air policing, or quick reaction alert (QRA) cover for the nations' 6.8 million inhabitants fell upon the wider NATO community, which is expected to maintain its commitment until around 2018.

Flight International visited Lithuania's Siauliai air base as the fourteenth nation to assume the Baltic QRA mission was less than three weeks into its four-month detachment at the site. Notably for the Czech Republic, the first operational overseas deployment to have been undertaken by its air force since joining NATO in 1999 is also the first commitment of its kind made by Prague since the end of the Second World War.

Equipped with four Saab Gripen C fighters, the current detachment is drawn from the Czech air force's 211th Tactical Squadron, home based at Cáslav, around 80km (43nm) east of the nation's capital.

© Lt Col David Schreier/Czech air force

Two of the aircraft have been held at readiness to take off within 15min on a 24h, seven-day-a-week basis since 1 May, with the commitment forming part of the wider NATO Integrated Air Defence System. Armaments carried for the Baltic mission are two Raytheon AIM-9M Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missiles and typically around 100 gun rounds per aircraft.

The deployment is notable not only for its historic-first nature, but also because the Czech air force only began operating the Gripen in 2005 under a 10-year lease deal brokered via Sweden's Defence Materiel Administration (FMV).

In addition, despite having a total of just 12 Gripen Cs and two D-model operational trainers, the service is providing parallel QRA cover for the Czech Republic from Cáslav.

"As one squadron we are supporting two QRAs, so you can imagine the people are busy now," says Czech air force Maj Jaroslav Míka, detachment commander for the Baltic mission and also Gripen squadron commander. The fleet logged more than 6,000 flight hours in its first three years of use, according to Saab.

© Lt Col David Schreier/Czech air force

Preparations for the Lithuanian deployment started in February 2007, with an initial base survey having been conducted later the same year. Materiel preparation work began last October, with a second site survey conducted in February. "We are not an experienced nation with sending our tactical aircraft abroad," notes Míka.

Czech personnel and Gripens had previously been deployed to Norway, Poland and Turkey for training, and squadron personnel performed a six-month work-up ahead of the Baltic deployment, following a model used by Czech military personnel deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.

EVALUATION EXERCISE

Final preparations included an air policing evaluation exercise conducted at Cáslav from 9-13 March, which assessed the unit's standards, techniques and procedures against NATO guidelines. The process included support from Czech air force Aero Vodochody L-159 advanced light combat aircraft, plus transports and helicopters.

The first Czech aircraft arrived at Siauliai on 30 April, with the presence to continue until the German air force takes over responsibility for the QRA mission on 1 September (see box).

Representing the 20th period of cover to have been provided to the Baltic states, the Czech detachment has already been called upon for the first time. A so-called "Alpha" scramble intercept was launched on 21 May, after a civilian aircraft was detected flying along the Russian-Lithuanian border after departing Poland.

"A signal informing about an A-Scramble rang at 17:30. Our pilots were airborne at 17:41 and intercepted a German-registered aircraft at 17:50," says Lt Col David Schreier, liaison officer of the Czech air policing detachment. Restricted from approaching within 1,000ft (305m) of the potential threat, the Gripens monitored the aircraft until it landed at Lithuania's Klaipeda airfield, before they returned to Siauliai.

"We learnt the day after that the aircraft had had a flight plan through that area, but it was not activated by the Brussels flight co-ordination centre," says Schreier. Typical of most recent incidents, the event was the first in several months over the Baltic states: the previous Danish Lockheed Martin F-16 contingent did not conduct an Alpha scramble during its entire tour of duty. US Air Force Boeing F-15s were twice launched from Siauliai between October and December 2008.

Gripens are launched around 10 times a year in the Czech Republic to investigate irregular flight activity, says Míka.

A total of 75 Czech personnel are participating in the Baltic mission, with the majority of these to be rotated half-way through the commitment. The total includes eight pilots and 36 maintenance and logistics personnel at Siauliai and some personnel assigned to a Lithuanian command and control facility at Karmelava.

The mission is planned to total around 290 flying hours and not more than 350 by September, with the latter limit having been established to avoid adversely affecting operations at Cáslav. The air force usually has eight of its 12 Gripen Cs ready for operations each day, and detachment maintenance and logistics officer Maj Pavel Buchta notes: "What you do now, you will see the results 18 months from now."

The planning assumption is for the detachment to fly eight two-aircraft training missions - or Tactical scrambles - a week, up to a maximum of 8h a day and 25h a week. No training sorties are flown at weekends due to local noise restrictions, although the 15min QRA cover is maintained.

As its existing Gripen deal only covers the support of aircraft operating at their home base, Prague has signed a supplemental deal with the FMV to enable its Baltic duties. This covers some additional spare parts, line replaceable units and ground support equipment delivered to the Czech Republic, from where one logistics flight is performed to Siauliai each week using an air force Antonov An-26 transport.

© Craig Hoyle/Flight Interntational

"Our main ground support equipment and resources are at our home base, and we had to be prepared to fly from an almost bare base," says Buchta, who describes the mission as "the biggest challenge in my career".

Around 80% of the squadron's equipment arrived in Lithuania by road, while more sensitive and hazardous supplies, such as ammunition and missiles, were flown in by An-26. "We have limited airlift resources in the Czech Republic, which is not so good for a detachment abroad," says Buchta. However, its air force will later this year receive the first of four Airbus Military C-295 transports under a deal announced during May.

MAINTENANCE WORK

Minor maintenance and repairs are conducted at Siauliai, while larger activity, such as technical services scheduled after every 200 flight hours and lasting between four and six weeks, are conducted in the Czech Republic.

The aircraft had logged 72h in 48 sorties by 19 May, and Míka says: "We haven't had any major maintenance issues; we keep four aircraft in flying condition." He praises the Gripen's on-board diagnostics system, noting: "Straight after landing you know what it is necessary to maintain."

Some Swedish support personnel are also based at Cáslav under the lease deal, and the air force brought two of these to Siualiai at the start of the detachment. But in a sign of the squadron's independence they soon returned to the Czech Republic. "There was nothing for them to do," says Míka. "We are doing well," adds Buchta. "It was good preparation, and we have found solutions to problems."

TRAINING SCRAMBLES

Czech pilots are managing to conduct some training during Tactical scrambles, for example flying with Lithuanian air force Aero Vodochody L-39s or Mil Mi-8 transport helicopters. However, these are largely limited to flying 2:1 scenarios, says Míka. Visiting pilots are also making use of the mission's protected airspace over the Baltic Sea, which offers a different training experience to the land-locked Czech Republic.

The last Gripen will leave Lithuania on 4 September for its 80min return flight to Cáslav - a distance of almost 1,040km (560nm).

Although the detachment is stretching the Czech air force's small fleet of fighters and testing its aged air transport fleet, the experience is an important one for a country just a decade into its NATO experience. The detachment is also a welcome opportunity for its fighter pilots - capped at flying an average of 150 flight hours a year at home - to taste deployed operational life for the first time.

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Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two hybrid motor has been successfully fired by the spaceline's prime contractor Scaled Composites and its subcontractor Sierra Nevada, which owns SpaceDev, one of the companies that helped develop SpaceShipOne's rocket.

Flight International was unable to confirm whether the motor tested was full scale or if the firing test was for the full duration SS2 requires.

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By Kieran Daly

The recent near-catastrophe in which an Emirates Airbus A340-500 was almost lost on take-off after the first officer misentered the aircraft's weight by a single digit in the electronic flight bag has highlighted the human factors issues associated with this new technology.

That incident at Melbourne was only the latest of several known cases involving widebodies, and insiders say similar errors on narrowbodies are even more common but go unreported because of their greater performance margins.

Dan Pendergast of Arinc says: "Regarding Emirates or any other case, even though certain technology was involved, usually there are multiple factors and you cannot point at any one part as a major factor.

"One of the roles of the EFBs is to improve safety - to try to automate as many things as possible that could be subject to human error and could contribute to an accident.

"I think the industry in general should view this technology as a way, just like ACARS [datalinking], to reduce pilot workload and we have to be very careful as an EFB is implemented, in how it is presented to the crew and how much work they have to do on it. It is a powerful tool."

Joe McGoldrick, chief executive of Aircraft Management Technologies, stresses the importance of cross-checking, saying that, with his company's software, "at key points in the flow the captain has to sign off what the first officer entered".

Lufthansa Systems highlights the robustness generated by a heavily integrated EFB, which makes it more likely that a data error will be caught due to its incompatibility with other data. Marc Szepan, senior vice-president airline operations solutions, says: "In our take-off performance module, if you enter a weight value that is not possible or the aircraft is not certified then the module would not allow it.

"The value of the EFB, if you have a fully integrated EFB solution in which everything talks to each other, is that there is much richer potential for cross-checking. If you have a fully integrated EFB then in the take-off performance module where you entered, say, 250t instead of 280t, it will cross-check with the weight and balance module which has determined that related to the zero-fuel weight and the number of passengers it would not work and the warning will flash up.

"We have tried in as many ways as possible to leverage that possibility with some fairly sophisticated cross-checks that provide the maximum degree of check against values that are not realistic."

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By Alex Derber

UK carrier BMI is in discussions to take over shuttle operations between Airbus' manufacturing plants.

Airbus has opted not to renew the contract of British regional operator Eastern Airways which flies the airframer's personnel between its Broughton and Filton manufacturing sites.

Eastern had been employed to shuttle Airbus staff with 29-seat British Aerospace Jetstream 41 turboprops "as and when they required" for a number of years.

But an Eastern spokesman says: "We have been given notice by Airbus of a change of operator as they're adopting a different approach to their flying programme and the Jetstream 41 operation is not appropriate for what they want to do going forward."

Airbus is in talks with BMI to pick up the business with 49-seat Embraer ERJ-145 jets.

"BMI Regional is in discussions to operate a shuttle service for Airbus," confirms the airline.

ERJ-145 jets would not only offer higher capacity but additional range for any other routes that Airbus might require.

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By John Croft

A proposed airworthiness directive (AD) set to be published tomorrow suggests that under-inflated tires may have initiated the chain of events that led to the rejected takeoff crash of a Learjet 60 crash in Columbia, South Carolina on 19 September 2008, killing four of the six onboard.

According to the US National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report, issued in October, information on the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder revealed that the crew initiated the rejected takeoff after hearing a "sound consistent with a tire failure" at 136kt (252km/h), just after the V1 callout, the speed beyond which pilots are generally instructed to take off rather than attempt to stop on the remaining runway.

The business jet continued past the 305m (1,000ft) runway safety area, hit airport lighting, navigation facilities, a perimeter fence and concrete marker posts before crossing a roadway and coming to rest on an embankment and burning, the NTSB determined.

In the AD to be published tomorrow, the FAA reveals that all four of the aircraft’s main tires appear to have blown out, which could have also played a role in the NTSB’s finding that at least one of the Learjet’s two engines thrust reversers had not deployed during the full-power rejected takeoff attempt. Though the FAA does not identify the particular accident, details provided link it to the Columbia crash, the only Learjet 60 hull loss in NTSB records since 2004.

“We received a report of all four of the main landing gear tires blowing out during a takeoff roll of a Learjet Model 60 airplane,” writes the FAA in the proposed AD. “The airplane overran the end of the runway, ultimately stopping when it struck an embankment, and was destroyed by fire.”

Additionally, FAA says that investigation of tire fragments “indicates that, in all four tires, there was evidence of internal heat damage consistent with under-inflation, over-loading, or a combination of both; damage to a tire under these conditions is cumulative” and that “tires that have been rolled or taxied at lower-than-specified tire pressure settings may fail”.

The regulator says it is proposing the AD “to prevent tire failure, which could result in failures of the braking and thrust reverser systems. In a critical phase of operation such as takeoff, loss of airplane control may result”.

If approved as written, the AD will require operators to include procedures for the aircraft’s flight and maintenance manuals to use when checking for and maintaining proper tire inflation. Public comments on the proposal are due by mid-July.

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In 2008 EADS edged out Boeing as the largest aerospace and defence company by revenue, with 10.6% growth to $62.3 billion compared with the 8.3% decline to $60.9 billion at its strike-hit US rival.

According to Deloitte research, European companies achieved higher sales growth than their US counterparts, but lower margins owing to labour market inflexibility.

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Brazilian operator TAF Linhas Aereas has suspended all scheduled passenger services, citing lack of demand, although charter flights continue.

The cargo and charter airline started scheduled Boeing 737-200 flights only last year.

TAF Linhas Aereas says the suspension is "temporary" and that all charter and cargo operations are proceeding normally.

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Bristow Group has acquired 42.5% of Lider Aviacao, Brazil's largest provider of helicopter and executive aviation services.

Lider's 46-helicopter operation handles 50% of Brazil's oil and gas industry market. It also has 29 charter aircraft. Lider generated $305 million in revenue and a net loss of $17 million in 2008, but turned a $6.9 million profit in the first quarter this year.

Bristow chief executive William Chiles says: "We view Brazil as the next 'North Sea' in terms of its potential for growth in offshore services," adding that Bristow will lease aircraft to Lider as needed.

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By Arie Egozi

BlueBird Aero Systems, the Israeli unmanned air vehicle manufacturer, is planning a test launch of its MicroB system using a standard assault rifle equipped with a bullet trap-based launching device. Chief executive Ronen Nadir says the test will be performed soon, after the receipt of permission from Israel's civil aviation authority.

Weighing 1kg (2.2lb) and with a 0.95m (3.1ft) wingspan, the air vehicle carries a stabilised wide field of view optical payload weighing 240g (8.47oz) made by BlueBird. This is capable of storing still images on a memory chip.

The air vehicle has a maximum airspeed of 46kt (85km/h), a 1h endurance and an operational range of 10km (5.4nm). The entire system, including a UAV and portable ground control unit, can be carried in two cases weighing about 7kg.

The MicroB is offered with a hand-held pneumatic launcher (below), which uses a compressed air container capable of conducting nine launches. "The use of a pneumatic launcher enables the launch of this UAV in side- or back-winds, as well as at high altitudes, where the initial high speed is essential," says Nadir.

Both images © BlueBird Areo Systems

BlueBird says it has already sold MicroB systems to "special forces" in a European army, and to two other undisclosed clients in the USA and South America. The company plans to increase the endurance of the MicroB to 1.5h using an advanced lithium-sulphur dioxide battery.

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By Kieran Daly

As with so many new technologies, the early adopters of electronic flight bags will not necessarily be its biggest beneficiaries, but the concept finally looks poised to deliver far greater benefits than initially promised.

What is now apparent is that the so-called "paperless cockpit" concept that initially drove development is only one element in a range of business advantages that, in well-executed projects, can reverberate through an airline.

In short, the true potential of the EFB, far from being yet another clever box in the cockpit, is that it can represent the critical data gateway into and out of the aircraft that has been the missing link in airline information systems for decades.

In principle at least these hugely expensive physical assets can finally become nodes on the company's IT networks just like an office, BlackBerry-equipped employee, or check-in desk with all the myriad cost and efficiency gains that are almost routine today.

© Lufthansa Systems AG

Joe McGoldrick, chief executive of Malahide, Ireland-based Aircraft Management Technologies (AMT), says: "Airlines today are paper based. The aircraft are $100 million assets and everything around them is paper-based, with data-entry clerks transcribing the data and entering it into the system. The whole process around the aircraft has never been fixed.

"So it is the whole question of the connected aircraft and the aircraft becoming a node on the network. That leaves tremendous opportunity for streamlining the operation."

That transition in the perception of EFBs from technical exotica to management tools leads major vendors in the field to believe they are on the brink of a wave of procurement.

Most of that wave, it now seems clear, will consist of retrofit sales of Class 2 EFBs - the highly capable devices that can be docked with the aircraft and used in all flight-phases, sitting between the more basic Class 1 devices, which are essentially ruggedised laptop computers, and the high-end Class 3 integrated devices, which are predominantly the preserve of new-build widebodies.

And the second defining feature of the market is that the robust integration of the aircraft with the airline's ground information systems is critical if the potential of the EFB is to be unleashed - implying well-thought-out communications links and proper analysis of the required data flows. The result can be not just more efficient - and safer - day-to-day tactical operations, but the generation of real-time business intelligence for senior executives.

© Lufthansa Systems AG

The possible applications are enormous: they range from the transfer to the aircraft of electronic charts, loadsheets and route manuals for consultation in flight, to the downloading of precise block times, crew duty hours, fuel and other service purchases, and, of great importance, technical fault reporting.

The early EFB-driver of saving pilots from having to carry weighty charts and other flight documentation around remains significant on cost and health grounds - particularly in the USA, where historically aircrew have held their own set of charts.

Also in the USA, the Federal Aviation Administration is urging carriers to consider EFBs to display own-position data using automatic dependent surveillance - broadcast to attack the perennial problem of runway incursions.

Dan Pendergast, senior director airline programmes of Arinc, which runs its airline EFB activity under the umbrella of the Adari joint venture with Aeronautical Data Communications Corporation (ADCC) of China, says: "We are pretty much hardware and application agnostic. We work closely with the airline to assess what they want and we can serve as an integrator for both hardware and software and, if you like for installation.

"It is absolutely essential that if you are going to deploy it on the aircraft it is fully integrated into the information process and standardised across the fleet."

The company, which is working on a potential Class 2 EFB programme with Cathay Pacific on at least its Boeing 777 fleet, offers program management software that Pendergast likens to Windows in its function, and content delivery management using its experience in aircraft-ground communications.

Like Arinc, AMT begins work at an airline by examining its existing processes and then entering a consulting role to work out how they can be improved and with what benefits.

McGoldrick says "an average airline" can save around $200,000 per aircraft every year, resulting in a payback period of around only 18 months - making EFBs a plausible investment even in hard times. The company portrays its work as an example of lean manufacturing for airlines. It says it has a rigorous model for developing an EFB business case, used for example by Singapore Airlines, which examines more than 300 airline processes for possible improvement.

McGoldrick says a major challenge is breaking down airline departmental silos. He says: "In practice the airline industry is very siloed. For example, the maintenance guys are getting the tech data and it sits in the maintenance silo, and flight operations are generating voyage reports and those go off into the flight ops silo. With an EFB you have all the data effectively coming through a funnel, which is then distributed to the various functional areas. So you have a way now for the first time to see how the aircraft is performing."

Aggregating that data creates another management tool, he says. "Then you can generate business intelligence. All the data comes off and you can generate reports. Today it takes weeks to get any kind of information. Now you have it in quasi-real-time.

"What you cannot do today as an executive in the airline is find one place where you can get a snapshot of the operation today. That is a key requirement for executives and it can be customised as to what you want to see."

Most data, he says, needs only be up- or downloaded on arrival or departure, and can be carried by any one of several links from Gatelink to 3G or Iridium.

Thomson Airways of the UK is using Iridium in current trial work with AMT to implement electronic flight-briefing on two aircraft. Airborne reporting of technical issues to let engineers prepare ahead of arrival, however, can be done with traditional VHF or satellite communications ACARS.

© Aircraft Management Technologies

The data itself can be hosted by the airline, or by AMT if required, or even by a third party. And much of it is synchronised on the ground, over secure web links for example, rather than being transmitted, ensuring that operational documentation is constantly kept updated.

McGoldrick says that typically the project is driven by one department - generally flight operations or engineering - but that once the business case is established, other advantages quickly accrue. "Once you have the framework then you can roll out new applications - the big step is putting in the framework," he says.

A classic example of that now emerging is that an EFB can easily be used to collate the trip data that will be required under forthcoming European emissions trading regulations - a task that all carriers are having to address. "Emissions data can be done with one click. If you have the EFB in place then you get the emissions data for free effectively," he says.

AMT tends to work on Class 2 projects, but McGoldrick is open minded, saying: "The big drawback with Class 1 is that it is not available [for crew use] under 10,000ft [3,000m]. That obviously limits some of the functionality that you can provide, but it can still make sense.

"If the idea is managing voyage logs and recording vendor services or an electronic tech log, or performance calculations with weight and balance, then all that can be provided with a Class 1 solution. That has business benefits."

A Class 1-based contract AMT had with Irish leisure carrier Futura Airways to generate take-off performance calculations let the airline drop some refuelling stops as the calculations were much more accurate than on paper.

McGoldrick notes that the kind of off-the-shelf ruggedised laptop used for Class 1 applications might cost only €2,000 ($2,750) compared with 10 times that for a Class 2 device. "But Class 2 makes a lot of sense by having a docking station," he says.

He concedes that Class 3 has the "big advantage" of being able to interact with the aircraft's integral databus, opening even more advanced applications, but suggests it would be rare that a retrofit case could be made.

Arinc's Pendergast says: "On Class 2 you can get all the traditional applications that you find in Class 3. Also if you integrate into the communications management unit, it can access into health monitoring or engine monitoring and can download that information as well."

Marc Szepan, senior vice-president airline operations solutions at Lufthansa Systems, which is a major supplier to Lufthansa's airline operation and third parties, notably under the Lido brand, broadly agrees, saying: "We see a move in the direction of Class 2 devices. There was a lot of excitement in the market around Class 3 and a good push from the manufacturers but, for an airline, where does the real value come from?"

That shift to Class 2 was the major decision taken by Lufthansa's airline operation 18 months ago for its entire fleet under the EFB Next Generation banner and Szepan says: "We are fairly happy with the decision to pursue that in Lufthansa and it is being borne out in the [third party] marketplace. We are pretty much on track. We had the first validations by our pilot group which gave positive feedback."

© Aircraft Management Technologies

KEY ASPECTS

Lufthansa began using Class 1 EFBs more than six years ago and has learned a great deal, but Szepan says that as well as the shift to Class 2, LHS believes there are two other key aspects to the market now. He says: "One of the key drivers is the integration of the ground and cockpit applications. Everybody got very excited about putting a screen in the cockpit and seeing what they could do with that.

"But that has matured and we are finding something that delivers real operational and financial value. We need software and applications tied into the ground-based systems. The ground and cockpit parts of life must be integrated - that is a big trend.

"The second point is that, the more we see, it is not just about clever device engineering and certification, but the key part is the clever and robust combination of software engineering and flight operations.

"We have big expertise in Lufthansa where we can see issues popping up and see crew resource management [CRM] and human factors issues. EFBs haven't been around for too long. But what we do see is a lot of operational and technical maturing in the last year or two."

Szepan puts the case for Class 2 solutions more forcefully than McGoldrick, saying: "One of the key value-drivers for EFB is electronic charts or electronic route manuals. The obvious limitation of Class 1 is that you have to stow it for take-off and landing. So we needed something that would mean we didn't have to do that, and Class 2 allows that during all phases of flight. It is more significant as capex [capital expenditure] but, when you put in electronic charts and take-off performance modules and so on, Class 2 is a no-brainer."

There is a similar consensus among the vendors on the desirability of a standardised fit across all aircraft types in the fleet.

Examples of EFB benefits include: Providing data for crews to generate loadsheet instead of despatchers. Reduction in crew duty time due to the ability for crews to self-brief via intranet in hotels or at home and then update on the aircraft. Recording vendor services in order to check invoices - for example for stairs, ground power and fuel. Electronic tech log - the ability for crews to raise defects in flight and, if equipped, transmit them to engineers at the destination. Ensuring updated manuals have been provided to the entire fleet by tail number. Paperless cockpit: e-charts and route manuals ending the need for pilots to carry their own paper volumes with attendant costs and health risks.

Szepan explains: "[In Lufthsansa] it is standard across the whole fleet - independent of aircraft type and device hardware supplier. We want to make sure that no matter what aircraft type pilots operate they have the same design and interface; it is a human factors issue, a cost of training issue, and a CRM issue.

"And from the ground operations side, operating aircraft from a number of different manufacturers, we only want to run one set of infrastructure. The number of airlines that are single-manufacturer operators is fairly small."

Lufthansa's own programme integrates EFB-installation into the regular maintenance check-cycle. Szepan declines to detail its exact status, conceding that the original plan has had to be modified in the light of market conditions and indicating that the schedule depends considerably on the form of the recovery. "We thought we had a fairly detailed and certain plan about 18 months ago, but things happened in the industry," he observes.

There is a general view that the regulatory authorities have performed well in supporting the implementation of EFBs, although the UK Civil Aviation Authority declines to comment on the subject, saying it is "too early". But the vendors warn airlines not to be complacent.

Szepan says: "These things are not that easy to tackle from a regulatory point of view. There are software engineering and data processing kind of issues. And there is obviously the issue of getting operations approvals."

AMT's McGoldrick adds: "It is important to get the aviation authority on board and let them know what you are doing. We are not that far advanced in terms of the regulatory process."

How the market will evolve in the recession-hit near-term is hard to predict. Arinc's Pendergast says: "Airlines should be looking into the technology and working on their business cases. At some point it has the potential to pay and when the economy is right they should prepare to move forward. Now might not be the time, but who knows a year from now?"

With its strong internal business case the issue is less difficult for Lufthansa, but AMT chairman Aidan Gallagher says his company is working hard to develop a pay-as-you-go model for hosting airline data to mitigate the up-front costs of EFB implementation. He says the company is also developing relationships with major system integrators as its strategic way ahead.

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It is a familiar challenge in business: large corporation buys small firm with innovative spirit and a perhaps disruptive technology. Their cultures and business models seem incompatible. How do they come together without strangling the reason for the acquisition in the first place?

That question was surely asked when Boeing acquired the Insitu Group on 8 September last year and made the Bingen, Washington company a wholly owned subsidiary.

With Boeing's support since 2002, Insitu has famously adapted the SeaScan unmanned air system from a tuna boat accessory into the ScanEagle, which has essentially invented an operational niche for a small tactical UAS (STUAS) for the US Navy and a Tier II platform for the US Marine Corps.

Now that the STUAS/Tier II contract is in competition - with the Boeing/Insitu Integrator UAS as a leading contender - the question is no longer an academic one. The newly integrated team's competitors will be watching how the combined company is able to defend its perch atop one of the last major new business opportunities for an operational UAS system in the US market for several years.

© Boeing

LOCAL HERO

Insitu's identity is embedded in its unique location, nestled on the Columbia river gorge in a remote, rural section of southern Washington state.

"When you come there, if you come there on the right day, you'll find it 'dog day', so you'll be attacked by various animals," says Erik Edsall, Insitu's business development manager. "It's a very small, innovative culture, which our engineering staff loves."

Company leaders once thought it would be necessary to transplant the facility to Puget Sound or Silicon Valley to source engineering talent. But Bingen's natural wonders, including its status as a wind-surfing and skiing mecca, created an atmosphere that attracted engineering talent.

Its decision to remain rooted in southern Washington has also yielded other benefits. The local craftsmen who build composite surf boards also became, and remain, the company's original suppliers for the ScanEagle's sleek airframe materials.

Politically, Insitu's remote presence also meant gaining considerable clout with the local delegation to Congress.

"We've also found that because we're located in the least prosperous county in the state of Washington, we get a lot of face-time with the Congressional delegations from the state of Washington and state of Oregon," Edsall says. "It's probably the kind of help and recognition we wouldn't get if we had gotten in line behind Boeing and Microsoft and others in Puget Sound or somewhere else."

Of course, Insitu can now tap Boeing's considerable political power base as well as its more local supporters. But the parent company also provides help in other important areas.

Since the acquisition, Boeing engineering resources have been tapped to control a Scan Eagle in flight from a 737 Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft in at a test range in Australia, Edsall says. Boeing has also provided software algorithms to simulate swarming UAS operations. Boeing engineers also integrated Scan Eagle into the Shadow 200 ground control station.

"We are very clear on the fact that we are part of the Boeing family and we think that's good news for everybody, and our customers in particular," Edsall says.

Only a year ago, it appeared that Boeing/Insitu partnership would fall apart in the months before the acquisition. Insitu executives publicly declared plans to offer the Integrator UAS for the STUAS/Tier II contract without Boeing's help. At that point, other companies began expressing interest in acquiring Insitu, but "Boeing wouldn't let that happen", Edsall says.

Integrating both cultures has not been completely smooth. "I won't try to make it sound too rosy here because it's been challenging," Edsall says.

Preserving Insitu's identity and culture has been a key focus for both firms. Edsall continues to wear a collared shirt with the Insitu logo and he still hands out the same business cards from before the acquisition.

"Boeing didn't only buy the Scan Eagle and Integrator product lines," Edsall says, "it also bought the culture."

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By Andrew Compart

WestJet President and CEO Sean Durfy described the delay in code sharing with Southwest as a “hiccup” May 28 during the airline’s Investor Day gathering, during which the airline also disclosed that it has talked to more than 70 airlines worldwide about potential partnerships.

The Canadian low-cost carrier announced earlier this week that Southwest was delaying the planned implementation of code sharing in the fourth quarter this year, and a Southwest spokeswoman subsequently said the earliest it would be implemented would be late 2010 (DAILY, May 27). WestJet had looked to that code sharing and “virtual” expansion of its U.S. network to help build its transborder service and appeal to corporate travelers.

Durfy and other WestJet executives said they have great opportunities with other partners that it can implement fairly quickly, including an already announced one with Air France and KLM that it is speeding up to start in-bound interlining later this year in light of the Southwest delay.

WestJet executives said they talked May 27 to Southwest Chairman, President and CEO Gary Kelly, who assured them the airline is “committed” to the relationship. Kelly and Bob Jordan, Southwest’s executive VP-strategy and planning, will be visiting WestJet in June, they said, and the airlines still could move forward this year on some cooperation on movement of cargo. Southwest already activated a booking link for WestJet on its Web Site in December.

Also during Investor Day, WestJet revised its capacity guidance for 2009 to a growth rate of 3%, down from its previous guidance of 5%, which was a revision from earlier guidance of 8%.

Most of the new reduction will come from a decrease in aircraft utilization from 12.3 hours a day on average to 12 hours a day, largely by getting rid of some late-night flights and weak performing flights on certain days of the week, said Chris Avery, VP-revenue and planning.

WestJet, however, still is projecting a 10% annual growth rate through 2013, by which it expects to have grown from 86 aircraft at the end of this year to 121 by the end of that year, Avery said.

In that time it expects to add service to six to eight new U.S. cities and about 10 new Caribbean destinations, Durfy said.

In this global recession, however, that’s not the airline’s most immediate concern. Durfy, for example, said WestJet recently launched a program seeking employee input to eliminate another $25 million in annual costs over the next six months.

Photo: Boeing

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By Bettina H. Chavanne

Northrop Grumman may be hoping to convince the U.S. Army to field its Fire Scout vertical takeoff unmanned aerial vehicle earlier than scheduled by test-flying the unmanned helicopter in Yuma, Ariz., in June.

The Fire Scout, called an XM157 Class IV UAV by the Army, is part of the land service’s embattled Future Combat Systems (FCS) program. The Army does not plan to test fly the XM157 until 2011 under the official FCS timeline. But Northrop Grumman, whose Fire Scout is already being test-flown for the Navy, is taking its company-owned aircraft, called the White Tail, to Yuma next month for tests of its own.

“We wanted to demonstrate that we have the ability to operate in that [Army One ground control system] architecture,” said Mike Howell, Northrop Grumman’s director of business development for Fire Scout. The company will fly the aircraft using its own “universal” ground control station, which Howell said emulates the Army One system and incorporates some principles from the Navy’s Tactical Control System, or TCS.

For now, it’s a Raytheon system driving the Fire Scout in ship tests, but Northrop is keeping its eye out for opportunities. Former Pentagon acquisitions chief John Young advocated for more commonality among ground control systems, and he issued an acquisition decision memorandum in February directing the services to move in that direction (Aerospace DAILY, March 10).

The Army’s XM157 will have an ASTAMIDS payload, a “wholly unique” feature, according to Charles Catterall, the Army’s lead engineer for the Class IV vehicle. ASTAMIDS, or Airborne Standoff Minefield Detection System, will be paired with a STARLite search and rescue sensor in a dual-payload configuration. “No other system, manned or unmanned, has been designated to use [the ASTAMIDS] payload,” Caterrall said.

Meanwhile, the Navy is now focusing its MQ-8B Fire Scout program on preparing for ship-based deployment this fall to support counternarcotics efforts, likely in the Caribbean area, after conducting a series of successful landing tests with the unmanned rotorcraft this spring on the USS McInerney (FFG-8).

The tests, which wrapped up April 28, included four flights from the frigate over three days, says Capt. Tim Dunigan, the Navy’s Fire Scout program director. “The aircraft is doing everything we want it to do,” he said.

The tests took place off the coast of Jacksonville, Fla. A series of flight-tests in the Chesapeake Bay in February allowed the 3,150-pound gross-takeoff-weight aircraft to hover close to the ship and execute approaches. Winds and bad weather exceeded the allowance for landing at that time.

The McInerney tests are taking place in advance of more trials slated for the Fire Scout’s future host platform, the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). Fire Scout is expected to begin shipboard tests on the LCS-1, the Freedom, made by Lockheed Martin/Marinette Marine, by the second quarter of 2010, Dunigan said.

A schedule is not yet firm for tests on the first General Dynamics LCS, Dunigan said.

Photo: Northrop Grumman

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Andrew Compart andrew_compart@aviationweek.com

Delta has backtracked on part of its new $50 fee for a second checked bag on international flights, narrowing its application to U.S.-Europe flights only.

Delta "announced" the change May 27 by altering the written policy listed on its Web site. The new fee, as before, is effective for flights as of July 1, for economy class only, for flights booked on or after May 23. Active-duty military traveling on orders, passengers flying on a full-fare tickets and frequent flyer program elite-level members are still exempted from the fee.

A Delta spokesman said today that Delta changed the scope of the fee because "we constantly monitor the industry landscape to ensure our fares and fees are competitive." One could take that to mean no other carriers have matched the fee since Delta announced it in April, but none of them have matched the fee for U.S.-Europe flights either.

Delta has said the fee will apply to any Delta booking, even for a Delta code-share seat on a partner airline, such as a flight operated by Air France.

It would not apply, however, to a booking on a Delta flight with an Air France code. Delta has been talking to its alliance partners about how to implement, collect and distribute the fee under those scenarios.

The change in the application fee will lower the amount of additional revenue the airline will collect, but Delta has not said by how much. When it originally announced the fee to apply to all international flights, Delta said it expected the fee to raise more than $100 million per year.

Photo credit: Delta Air Lines

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By Darren Shannon

US Airways is seeking shareholder approval to double the amount of common shares it can issue, a move that will give the company more flexibility to raise much-needed funds but also dilute investors’ current holding in the airline.

The Tempe, Ariz.-based airline’s board of directors in a shareholder notice issued late May 26 unanimously recommended the issue of 200 million shares, citing constraints on the company’s current share holding. It noted that from an initial authorized stock of 200 million common shares 131.8 million have already been released, but debt commitments mean only 7 million are available should US Airways require more money.

One such commitment was the May 13 issue of $172.5 million worth of debt that can be converted to almost 37.8 million shares. At the same time, US Airways also offered about 17.5 million shares of common stock under a plan that raised a total of about $234 million in cash.

“The availability of additional authorized shares will provide us with the flexibility in the future to issue shares of US Airways Group common stock for corporate purposes such as acquisitions, raising additional capital, paying dividends in stock or effecting stock splits, settling outstanding obligations, sales of stock or securities convertible into or exercisable for common stock, providing equity incentives to employees, officers and directors, and other general corporate purposes,” the board noted.

“We believe that this will provide us with additional flexibility to meet business and financing needs as and when they may arise,” it continued.

The new shares will have the same value and rights as the initial 200 million.

The board of directors also asked that the request not be misinterpreted. “Although an increase in the authorized shares of US Airways Group common stock could, under certain circumstances, be construed as having an anti-takeover effect, the proposed increase in shares authorized is not in response to any effort by any person or group to accumulate US Airways Group common stock or to obtain control of us by any means,” it noted.

“[T]he proposal is not part of any plan by our board of directors to recommend or implement a series of anti-takeover measures,” the airline added.

US Airways’ shareholders will vote on the proposal at the company’s June 10 annual general meeting.

Photo: US Airways

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