Hong Kong's new Chek Lap Kok airport was one of several Asia-Pacific winners at the Flight International Aerospace Industry Awards. The airport won the Infrastructure award in recognition of the first landing at the airport which will formally open later this year.
The Air China-Lufthansa joint venture, Ameco-Beijing, was another company from the region to scoop a prize. It won the award for maintenance and modification.
Although, like the industry itself, the awards were dominated by the USA, there were a number of other international successes including winners from Sweden, Netherlands and UK.
The winners and short-listed finalists in each category were:
Hong Kong's new Chek Lap Kok airport was one of several Asia-Pacific winners at the Flight International Aerospace Industry Awards. The airport won the Infrastructure award in recognition of the first landing at the airport which will formally open later this year.The Air China-Lufthansa joint venture, Ameco-Beijing, was another company from the region to scoop a prize. It won the award for maintenance and modification.Although, like the industry itself, the awards were dominated by the USA, there were a number of other international successes including winners from Sweden, Netherlands and UK.The winners and short-listed finalists in each category were:MILITARY:
The first flight of the F-22A Raptor was undoubtedly one of the aerospace highlights for 1997. It was quickly heralded as bringing in a new era in fighter aircraft design. The Awards judges agreed that the aircraft represents a "remarkable" design achievement, combining stealth with agility.
PROPULSION
When Boeing delivered the first of its new generation 737 family towards the end of 1997, the event also marked the entry into service of CFM International's latest CFM56-7 engine, bringing with it significant savings in operating and maintenance costs.
AIR TRANSPORT
Transavia Airlines broke new ground in March 1997 when it became the first carrier to win certification under Europe's new standards for airline operations.
All airlines within the 23-member countries of the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) will have to meet the new Joint Aviation Requirements Air Operators Certificate (JAR-OPS 1) by April 1998.
AVIONICS
MAINTENANCE & MODIFICATION
AMECO-Beijing took its first important steps into the international market for heavy aircraft maintenance in 1997, showing how far the Chinese joint venture has come over the past eight years.The original aim was to maintain and overhaul the Air China aircraft and engine fleet but today, AMECO provides line maintenance to 28 international airlines and more than 42 domestic operations.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Hong Kong's new international airport at Chek Lap Kok passed a major milestone on 20 February, 1997 when the first aircraft touched down. Admittedly, the flight was only a short hop by a Raytheon Beech Super King Air from Hong Kong's other airport, Kai Tak, carrying dignitaries to mark the start of flight test trials on the new southern runway. The airport development has not been without its controversy, but despite these reservations, the panel decided that the airport project stands as an important landmark in the much longer-term battle to provide badly-needed new infrastructure in Asia.
CORPORATE STRATEGY
BUSINESS & GENERAL AVIATION
ENGINE SYSTEMS & COMPONENTS
The aerospace industry has long targeted the costly and time consuming process of painting aircraft, especially in the light of growing concerns over damage to the environment. The joint winners of this year's Engineering Award are Lockheed Martin and 3M for their work in tackling the problem with a protective film technique which offers major cost and weight savings over traditional painting.
The Awards judges noted that in helping to end the "nightmare" of maintaining and renewing paint, the achievement could equally have been recognised for its benefits to the environment.
SPACE
TRAINING & SAFETY
PERSONALITY OF THE YEARJean Pierson, President and chief executive, Airbus Industrie
The Aerospace Personality of the Year Award 1998 goes to Jean Pierson, the president and chief executive who has led Airbus's emergence as a world-class competitor over more than a decade.
From the start, Pierson's fortunes were linked to those of Toulouse, now home to Airbus and undisputed centre of Europe's civil aircraft ambitions. After graduating from the French national aeronautical institute, he started out in 1963 as a young production engineer with Sud-Aviation - later to emerge as part of the new Aerospatiale. Four years later and he was promoted to production manager for the anglo-French Concorde programme in Toulouse - a first taste of future European civil aircraft collaboration to come.
By 1972 Pierson was put in charge of Aerospatiale's light aircraft subsidiary, SOCATA, but was soon called back to run Aerospatiale's final assembly lines at Toulouse as the first Airbus A300s began to roll off the lines. While there, he was credited with transforming the plant into one of the most modern aircraft production sites in the world. By 1983 he had become manager of Aerospatiale's aircraft business, representing the French group on the Airbus board, as well as overseeing its ATR turboprop joint venture.
When Pierson first took up the top job at Airbus Industrie in April 1985, the consortium had already overcome the first major hurdle in establishing itself as a serious contender in the world airliner market.
The A300 and A310 were carving out a niche as the first twin-engined widebody family. The consortium had taken its first step into the single-aisle market with the launch of the A320 programme. It also marked the dawn of fly-by-wire technology - a centrepiece of Airbus technology.
Pierson's achievement has been to help the consortium build on this technical base with commercial success. As Pierson now prepares to stand down as Airbus president at the end of March, he hands over to his successor a highly competitive business, with a full product range and healthy order book, which is on course to become Europe's largest industrial company.
Pierson's final year at the helm has seen real progress among the four consortium partners towards the restructuring of Airbus from consortium to standalone company. Aerospatiale, British Aerospace, Daimler-Benz Aerospace and CASA are now agreed that the Airbus Single Corporate Entity ( SCE) must be in place by the start of 1999 - a cause that Pierson has helped to champion.
The details are still being thrashed out, but there is no question that the Airbus SCE stands as the cornerstone of Europe's long-overdue plans to restructure its fragmented aerospace industry.
This final phase in Airbus' coming of age will now take place under new president Noel Forgeard, but he can thank Pierson for laying the groundwork of commercial success from which to build.
Source: Flight Daily News
