The Machinists union and Bombardier Learjet are back at the negotiating table today. Hourly workers who are members of Local Lodge 639 will be able to vote from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Machinists District Lodge #70 at 3830 S. Meridian.
Health care and job security are two top issues.
“It’s too early to tell,” how the talks will go this week, said Machinists spokesman Bob Wood.
Stay tuned for updates on the talks this week.
Spirit AeroSystems engineers are tentatively set to vote on the company’s offer Oct. 8. The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace has posted the complete offer on its Web site www.speea.org.
SPEEA and Spirit reached a tentative agreement on a contract on Friday. Members rejected the first two offers. In the last round of voting, they also approved a strike authorization. SPEEA represents more than 770 engineers at Spirit.
Did you know that Kansas is home to 141 airports, 7,602 pilots and 6,500 aircraft? Or that the state’s aviation industry employs 32,000 and has a $7.1 billion economic impact?
That kind of information and more is available starting today on the Alliance for Aviation Across America’s Web site. The organization used a months-long survey of states to formulate the state-by-state database. Check it out here.
The project aims to educate the general public about the importance of general aviation, especially its importance to small towns and rural communities around the country, Selena Shilad, head of the Alliance, said in a conference call this morning.
On the call, Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer spoke about aviation’s importance to Wichita and the state and to scores of businesses who need it to do business.
“Transportation is part of doing business, no matter where you are in the world,” Brewer said. “In Business 101, they teach you that time is money.”
Cessna Aircraft just released a new training program for sport pilots and private pilots at its Cessna Pilot Centers.
The program is in anticipation of the delivery of Cessna’s new light sport aircraft, the 162 SkyCatcher.
The course is a web-based system that tracks customer training and allows access to training materials anywhere the Internet is available.
Cessna Pilot Centers are flight training centers that use Cessna proprietary training curriculum and Cessna aircraft.
Here’s something I hadn’t realized until this morning. A show called The Aviators plans to premiere less than a year from now.
In the meantime, producers are looking for stories that would capture the interest of pilots, non-pilots and aviation enthusiasts across the country, show officials say.
“If you have an interesting aircraft, aviation business, destination, or story, then The Aviators wants to hear from you,” said information from the executive producer. You can e-mail the show at info@TheAviators.TV. For information on the show, go to www.TheAviators.TV
The Aviators will air on PBS in the U.S. The first segments include pieces about the U.S. Air Force, Airbus, Icon Aircraft, Cessna Aircraft, Joe Balzer, the Tiger Moth, the Russian MiG-15, and Julie Clark.
If you have a huge cup of coffee and the time, you can read the Air Force’s Draft Request for Proposal document for its next aerial refueling tanker. The Air Force released the document today. You can read it here.
Your reading of it may not understandably be as thorough as the one Boeing and Northrop Grumman will do. Both are locked in a fierce competition to supply the Air Force’s next aerial refueler.
Boeing said today its next step is to perform a detailed review of the proposal.
“We want to understand how requirements will be defined and prioritized and how the proposals will be evaluated,” the company said today. It then will decide which plane to offer the Air Force — or whether to offer both the 767 and the larger 777.
On second thought, if you’re reading the entire document, you better put on a pot of coffee.
Wichita Mid-Continent Airport’s new terminal building will include new state-of-the-art baggage screening through a $6.9 million grant from the Transportation Security Administration, the TSA said today.
The baggage system will improve the speed and efficiency of screening operations at the airport, Wichita federal security director Keith Osborn said in a statement.
Instead of carrying bags to the screening area, passengers will be able to check their bags at the airline ticket counter and then go on to the gate.
In-line screening systems allow the TSA to screen baggage for explosives more efficiently and reduces the number of re-scans and physical bag searches, the TSA said.
Whether the third time is a charm is too early to say. Spirit AeroSystems and its engineering union are in a third round of negotiations after members twice rejected the company’s proposals. This time, a federal mediator was called in to assist.
On Tuesday, the union, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, presented the company with a counterproposal to the one engineers rejected earlier this month. The company countered today.
But the two sides have not reach agreement on the main issues. Talks resume again tomorrow.
Lewis Campbell, the chairman and CEO of Cessna’s parent company, Textron Inc., will retire Dec. 1. Textron president Scott Donnelly will assume his position, the company said Thursday.
Campbell, who is 63, will remain as a non-executive chairman of the board at least until the 2011 annual meeting of shareholders, it said. The change is the culmination of a multi-year succession planning process. Campbell has been with Textron 17 years, including 11 years as CEO.
Donnelly joined Textron is June 2008 as chief operating officer and was named president in January. He is the former president and CEO of General Electric’s aviation unit.
WICHITA — Business aviation faces a host of challenges, but the one that worries Ed Bolen the most is the negative image surrounding business aviation, the National Business Aviation Association CEO said over coffee before speaking at today’s Wichita Aero Club luncheon.
“Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that business aviation has been under attack,” Bolen said at the luncheon.
The airlines want to shift funding of the nation’s airports and the air traffic control system from passenger taxes and fuel taxes to a system of user fees. The airlines portray the general aviation industry as frivolous, Bolen said.
When a misperception persists about the importance of business aviation, it’s difficult to successfully work on other issues the industry faces, Bolen said.
“We’ve got to make sure our lawmakers and policymakers think business aviation is essential,” he said. “We’ve got to get the image right in order to succeed in everything else.”
Other key issues facing business aviation are user fees, a large aircraft security program and environmental laws and regulations, he said.
Improving the public’s image is a focus of NBAA and other industry trade groups. Business aviation is vital to the nation’s economy and its transportation system and economy, he said.
Business aviation means jobs, serves small communities that have little or no commercial airline service, improves productivity for companies that use them and is important in humanitarian efforts, Bolen said.
