ATR REVEALS -600 CUSTOMERS IN ORDER BACKLOG
European turboprop maker ATR booked 42 new aircraft orders in 2008 and delivered 55, ending the year with a backlog of 169 aircraft, the second-highest in 18 years, and including 39 examples of the new -600. Newly revealed ATR 72-600 customers include Kingfisher Airlines (23 aircraft), Air Tahiti (two) and the Turkish navy (10 to be supplied by Alenia). Air Tahiti will also take three ATR 42-600s, and a one ATR 42-600 will go to Air Caraibes. The -600 should make its first flight this year, with deliveries from 2011.
HELICOPTER OEM WARNS OF FALLING DEMAND
Eurocopter's order total is expected to fall sharply in 2009, says chief executive Lutz Bertling. Bertling forecasts 450 bookings for the year, compared with 715 in 2008. Helicopter deliveries are predicted to be in "the same ballpark" as 2008's figure of 588. He promises three major product upgrades and pre-development of a new helicopter in 2009.
DARPA PRESSES ON WITH ALGAE RESEARCH
The US Defense Advanced Projects Agency has awarded contracts totalling $35 million to General Atomics and Science Applications International for research into an affordable military JP-8 surrogate fuel derived from algae. DARPA hopes to drive down the cost of algae triglyceride oil from around $8/litre ($30USgal) to as little as 26¢/litre as part of efforts to reduce reliance on traditional fuel.
TAIWAN'S AIDC TO MAKE PARTS FOR MRJ
Japan's Mitsubishi has confirmed that Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation will design and manufacture slats, flaps, belly fairings, rudders and horizontal stabiliser rotating blades for its MRJ regional jet, now in development.
OUTLOOK PROMPTS EUROPEAN RESEARCH REVIEW
Rising concerns about oil prices, security, fuel supplies, aviation's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and European industry's competitiveness, have sparked a full review of the European Union's Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe's (ACARE) objectives, scheduled for 2010. ACARE wants greater international co-ordination and more focus on alternative fuels and "revolutionary" power systems.
ONE IN 10 2009 ORDERS 'AT RISK' FOR FUNDING
At least 10% of the $73 billion-worth of new aircraft deliveries scheduled for this year will be cancelled or deferred for want of funding, says DVB Bank. DVB board member Bertrand Grabowski says manufacturers may cut production to "avoid white tails at any cost...especially when it becomes clear towards year-end that demand will not see a strong, short-term recovery."
NASA DELVES INTO FINER ASPECTS OF SHOCK
NASA is completing flight tests at its Dryden Flight Research Center in California using twin Boeing F-15 supersonic jets to probe the effects of wing lift and exhaust plume shapes on the strength of shockwaves. The project, aimed at helping industry create quiet supersonic aircraft, features NASA's NF-15B, an F-15 equipped with a canard and adjustable engine nozzles, trailed by a second F-15B equipped with a shock-measuring nose spike.
Source: Flight International