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Rannoch's Extended Surveillance Goes Operational over Taiwan Strait
Rannoch Corporation's extended surveillance commenced operational service across the Taiwan Strait for air traffic control purposes following a series of technical and operational tests.

Thales to Supply Radars for Several Australian Airports
Airservices Australia has awarded a contract to Thales to supply eight co-mounted primary and secondary radars that will be deployed at the busiest airports throughout the country.  Chile is replacing older radars with new Thales equipment as well.

Austrian Airlines Selects Sabre's Rocade Crew Management
Austrian Airlines will use Sabre Airline Solutions' Rocade crew management system to plan schedules and track its more than 3,000 flight personnel.

Air France and KLM Testing RFID for Baggage Tracking
Air France and KLM began testing RFID (radio frequency identification) tags to better handle and track their passenger's bags.

Innovative Solutions & Support Gets Order for "Classic" B-737 Displays
Innovative Solutions & Support (IS&S) says it received a significant order to retrofit B-737 "classics" with its flat-panel display systems.

British Airways to Use Baggage Video Security System from AD Aerospace
British Airways will use an AD Aerospace-supplied video security system to help prevent baggage theft and tampering during aircraft loading and unloading.

Singapore Changi to Use Smiths Detection X-ray Screening
Singapore's Immigration Checkpoint Authority (ICA) has contracted with Smiths Detection to supply 45 x-ray systems to screen the luggage of arriving passengers at Changi International Airport.

Morristown Airport Will Use Multiple PASSUR Products
Megadata Corporation says New Jersey's Morristown Airport has purchased a suite of its PASSUR products to help it collect landing fees and improve its operations.

Three Australian Airports Getting Sensis Surface Surveillance
Airservices Australia has asked the Sensis Corporation to deploy its Level 2 A-SMGCS (advanced - surface movement guidance and control system) at Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

Lima Airport Using Preston's Baggage Flow Simulation System
Lima Airports Partners (LAP), a consortium that runs Lima's Jorge Chavez International Airport, recently acquired Preston Aviation Solutions' passenger and baggage flow simulation system.

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Rannoch's Extended Surveillance Goes Operational over Taiwan Strait

Rannoch Corporation's extended surveillance commenced operational service across the Taiwan Strait for air traffic control purposes following a series of technical and operational tests.

The system, which Rannoch calls Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS-X) tracks aircraft equipped with Mode A/C and Mode S transponders as well as those with ADS-B, and is the world's first multilateration system that provides seamless surveillance transitions from the surface, through the terminal and en route phases, Rannoch says.  And it has a unique over-the-horizon capability that allows aircraft tracking that is not impeded by the Earth's curvature.

Multilateration uses the differences between arrival time to triangulate the source location of signals emitted by aircraft transponders, which are received by a network of distributed ground station sensors.  The sensors decode and timestamp the signals and communicate this information to a central processor using a range of communications options including standard modems and leased lines.

In this case the system provides surveillance from Southwest Taiwan to Kinmen Island, located near mainland China's Fujian Province, making it the world's largest operational system of its type, according to Rannoch.

The Kinmen installation includes certified radar data processing equipment and controller displays in the Kinmen tower and TRACON (terminal radar approach control).  The system also provides ATC with automatic collision alert functions.  07-05-2006.  (Top)

Thales to Supply Radars for Several Australian Airports

Airservices Australia has awarded a contract to Thales to supply eight co-mounted primary and secondary radars that will be deployed at the busiest airports throughout the country.  Chile is replacing older radars with new Thales equipment as well.

Thales will deliver eight STAR 2000 S-band solid-state approach primary radars co-mounted with RSM 970 Mode S monopulse secondary surveillance radars, transportable radar and radar electronics for a maintenance facility and a software support facility.  The radars will be installed at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Cairns, Coolangatta and Canberra, over a period of slightly more than three years, after which Thales will provide 16 years of support.

The RSM 970 S will provide controllers with aircraft identification, azimuth, range and true altitude, and will allow for downlinked real-time information such as an aircraft's call sign, heading, airspeed, vertical rate and ACAS resolution advisories.  These enhancements will be progressively fed into the Thales' Eurocat system that is used by The Australian Advanced Air Traffic System (TAAATS).

Chile Replacing Older Radars

Meanwhile, Chile's civil aviation authority, Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil (DGAC), recently awarded Thales a contract to replace the primary radars at Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas and supply new secondary surveillance radar at Punta Arenas.

The new equipment will replace systems that have been in service for more than 20 years.

The primary radar is a solid-state system with range capabilities of 80 nautical miles and two channels, including a six-level weather channel, as well as a central monitoring system to alert operators when boards or subassemblies need to be replaced.  The weather channel, the first in the DGAC's radar network, will give air traffic controllers an improved knowledge of current weather and should aid their decision-making during adverse conditions.

The procurement is part of Chile's national air navigation development plan for 2004-2010, which was initiated in 2004 and gained government approval at the end of 2005.  07-05-2006.  (Top)

Austrian Airlines Selects Sabre's Rocade Crew Management

Austrian Airlines will use Sabre Airline Solutions' Rocade crew management system to plan schedules and track its more than 3,000 flight personnel.

The Rocade system uses a single database and integrated modules to handle such tasks as pairing optimization, vacation planning, roster construction and Web-based crew check-in.  All of its modules are integrated and coordinated with Rocade's L2K legality control technology that optimizes management flexibility when applying user-definable rules.

Sabre Airline Solutions will also provide professional services and ongoing support for Austrian Airlines during the implementation and for a period of at least five years.  07-06-2006.  (Top)

Air France and KLM Testing RFID for Baggage Tracking

Air France and KLM began testing RFID (radio frequency identification) tags to better handle and track their passenger's bags.

Air France started a trial on July 3 that is using RFID tags to track passenger baggage on flights between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam Schiphol.  On July 10, KLM will begin its trial at two baggage drop-off points in Schiphol's  Departure Hall 2.  Later this year, all drop-off points in Departure Hall 2 will be equipped to handle RFID tags.  The RFID labels, which are uniform to Air France and KLM, will be introduced later at the airline's outstations.

KLM developed RFID together with Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, which is responsible for facilitation.

The airlines say that in the long term, an RFID chip will be encoded in the passenger's baggage tag or integrated into the baggage containers. Sensors located around the airport allow the airline to locate baggage in real time and provide passengers with more up-to-date information.

Air France has been designated "pilot airline" by the International Air Transport Association for this new technology. The adoption of RFID technology at the end of 2005 is one of the four priorities defined by IATA as part of its "Simplifying the Business" program.  07-06-2006.  (Top)

Innovative Solutions & Support Gets Order for "Classic" B-737 Displays

Innovative Solutions & Support (IS&S) says it received a significant order to retrofit B-737 "classics" with its flat-panel display systems.

The $7.0 million order, with a follow-on option for an additional $7.0 million, "represents the single largest commercial platform opportunity based on [his] company's highly successful B-767 STC [supplemental type certificate]," according to Roman Ptakowski, IS&S's president.

Deliveries will occur in the company's fiscal year 2007 that begins this coming October.

Since October 1, 2005, IS&S has received $21.6 million in new flat-panel display orders on a variety of aircraft including Lear and Citation business jets, Pilatus PC-12s, B-747s, B-767s, KDC-10s, C-130s and now B-737s.

The company's backlog at June 30, 2006, is expected to be $32 million, the highest it's been since December, 2004.  Flat-panel displays will account for about 70% of the backlog at that time, IS&S says.  07-06-2006.  (Top)

British Airways to Use Baggage Video Security System from AD Aerospace

British Airways will use an AD Aerospace-supplied video security system to help prevent baggage theft and tampering during aircraft loading and unloading.

The BA system - based on AD Aerospace's CargoVu - consists of several closed-circuit TV cameras covertly located in the aircraft's cargo compartments and linked to a video server (recorder) to automatically record any suspicious behavior.

Should a prosecution become necessary the images are marked with an electronic watermark to show they have not been tampered with and making them admissible in court.

AD Aerospace of Manchester, U.K. and Aircraft Engineering & Installation Services Inc. (AEI) of Orlando, Florida, are providing the video security system and installation design respectively.  AEI also manufactures the installation kit and provides information for certification.  07-06-2006.  (Top)

Singapore Changi to Use Smiths Detection X-ray Screening

Singapore's Immigration Checkpoint Authority (ICA) has contracted with Smiths Detection to supply 45 x-ray systems to screen the luggage of arriving passengers at Changi International Airport.

The HI-SCAN systems will be deployed in terminals 1, 2 & 3 to screen 100% of passenger carry-on items and oversize baggage arriving at Changi International.  The contract will bring the total number of x-ray systems operating at Changi to over 190 machines.  07-06-2006.  (Top)

Morristown Airport Will Use Multiple PASSUR Products

Megadata Corporation says New Jersey's Morristown Airport has purchased a suite of its PASSUR products to help it collect landing fees and improve its operations.

Morristown acquired PASSUR Portal, a Web "dashboard" access page to its other applications; Pulse, which distributes landing fee and operations reports from a PASSUR flight information database; and inSight, which tracks flights while en route as well as locally.  07-06-2006.  (Top)

Three Australian Airports Getting Sensis Surface Surveillance

Airservices Australia has asked the Sensis Corporation to deploy its Level 2 A-SMGCS (advanced - surface movement guidance and control system) at Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

Sensis' second level A-SMGCS uses multiple surveillance sources including X-band radar and ADS-B (automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast) that are integrated by a multi-sensor data processor (MSDP) to leverage the strengths of each individual sensor.  The MSDP also incorporates conflict detection and alerting functionality to provide audible and visual alerts for controllers.

The system's sensor multilateration has a one-second update rate; its solid-state X-band uses 16 diverse channel frequencies for better performance in inclement weather; and its ADS-B capability provides a cost-effective way to track airport vehicles, Sensis says.  And its MSDP can detect more than 30 potentially dangerous aircraft and surface vehicle situations.

The system will be integrated with Airservices national air traffic system and the gate management systems of the three airports.

Sensis will establish a support facility at Melbourne for A-SMGCS testing and evaluations, which will also be used to provide training for maintenance technicians and air traffic controllers.  07-06-2006.  (Top)

Lima Airport Using Preston's Baggage Flow Simulation System

Lima Airports Partners (LAP), a consortium that runs Lima's Jorge Chavez International Airport, recently acquired Preston Aviation Solutions' passenger and baggage flow simulation system.

LAP intends to use Preston's PaxSim to enhance its understanding of future passenger traffic flows at Jorge Chavez, to validate its current master plan design and related improvements.

Preston Aviation Solutions is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company.  LAP is comprised of Alterra Partners, formed by Bechtel Enterprises Holding Inc, Singapore Changi Airport Enterprise Pty. Ltd. and Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide (Fraport).  07-06-2006.  (Top)

Pemco Aviation has returned to Alaska Airlines the first B-737-400 it converted from a passenger version into a freighter for the carrier.  Alaska has contracted to have another four aircraft converted by Pemco, and has options to convert two more.  07-06-2006.

Tunisair ordered one A319ER from Airbus and said it intends to convert three of its in-service A319s into extended range versions.  07-06-2006.

Ryanair has ordered ten more B-737-800s for delivery in 2008, which will increase the airline's total number of firm orders for 737-800s to 249.  Ryanair also has options for 169 more aircraft between 2008 and 2014.  07-06-2006.

Brazil's new National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) has certified the Embraer 195.  07-06-2006.

Cimber Air added its eighth and ninth CRJ200s, which were leased from Bombardier.  07-06-2006.

Air Caledonie took delivery an ATR 42-500.  07-06-2006.

AeroMexico will lease three B-787-8s from ILFC, with deliveries beginning in 2010.  07-06-2006.

Air Hong Kong took delivery of its eighth A300-600GF, which completes its order for this type.  07-06-2006.

SkyEurope Airlines is converting five B-737-700 purchase rights into firm orders, bringing the number of 737s it has on order to 21.  The airline has 11 more purchase rights for aircraft to be delivered through 2010.  All of SkyEurope's new airplanes are equipped with blended winglets.  07-06-2006.

Northwest Airlines is accelerating retirement of its 12 remaining DC-10-30s over the next seven months.  The aircraft will be replaced with previously ordered A330s and three parked 747-400s that are being returned to service. 07-06-2006.

TAM has agreed to acquire 15 A319s, 16 A320s and six A330s to be delivered through 2010.  07-06-2006.  (Top)

Cessna delivered its 500th Citation Model 560 (aka the Citation XL and XLS), which is more than any other corporate business jet model in the world.  07-06-2006.

ICAO is forecasting worldwide airline scheduled passenger traffic growth of 6.1% for 2006, 5.8% for 2007 and 5.6% for 2008.  According to ICAO, the Middle East will have the strongest growth, rising 12% this year, 10.5% in 2007 and 9.5% in 2008.  ICAO expects North and South American airlines to grow below the world average over the next three years.  07-06-2006.

According to a study by The Velocity Group, "The decline in higher-yield airline travel since [its] last survey has been dramatic."  Gerald Bernstein, a partner with Velocity, said, "Despite a rise in total airline passenger trips, the number of higher-yield trips declined from almost 81 million to 41 million since 2000." Velocity believes this is due to both a decline in passenger demand and a reduction in airline-seat-supply rules.  The number of people flying on business aircraft now equals nearly a third of the number flying first, business and full-fare coach combined, according to the study.  07-06-2006.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said its members experienced a 7% increase in passenger demand and 5.1% increase in freight demand compared to the same period in 2005.  Load factor for May averaged of 73.6%.  07-06-2006.

The Association of European Airlines (AEA) says its members collectively posted a provisional operating profit of $755 million in 2005, up 82.8% from $413 million the previous year.  Passenger yield increased by 1%, while unit costs increased by 8.5%.  AEA member airlines carried 320 million passengers in 2005, an increase of 9.9 million over the previous year.  RPKs increased 6.3%, while ASKs increased 4.3%.  Their average load factor was 76%, 1.4 points higher than in 2004.  07-06-2006. (Top)

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