Congressman Todd Tiahrt (R-Goddard) is hosting a town hall meeting to discuss the Air Force’s tanker competition and the new health care law. He says he’ll also talk about his plans to repeal the law.
The meeting is open to the public. It will be held from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., Monday at the Hughes Metropolitan Complex at 29th and Oliver.
The Pentagon needs to know if EADS is serious about bidding on an aerial refueling contract before granting an extension of the deadline for bids, U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said today, according to a report by Reuters.
If it is, then a “modest” extension would probably help ensure the tankers could be competitively procured, he said.
The Pentagon was in discussions with EADS about its request for a 90-day extension that would allow it to prepare a bid after its partner, Northrop Grumman, pulled out of the competition, the report said.
The president of the National Air Transportation Association, Jim Coyne, is the keynote speaker at today’s Wichita Aero Club luncheon.
NATA, founded in 1940, represents the legislative, regulatory and business interests of general aviation service companies. Companies include fixed base operators, charter providers, aircraft management companies, maintenance and repair organizations, flight training and airline service companies.
Coyne, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was named president of the group in 1994.
The luncheon begins at noon at the Wichita Airport Hilton.
Delta Air Lines is adding flights from Wichita to destinations in Detroit, Minneapolis and Memphis, according to Valerie Wise, Wichita Airport Authority air service and business development manager.
As previously announced, Delta is starting nonstop service to Detroit May 1. It’s also adding a second daily flight beginning June 1.
Delta will expand service to Minneapolis with a third daily flight beginning June 10. It’s adding a third daily flight to Memphis starting May 1.
The flights are operated by Pinnacle Airlines.
The Machinists union has posted videos of the meeting held last week by leaders of Spirit AeroSystems and the union. Spirit managers and union stewards attended the meeting, held the day before labor negotiations opened on Tuesday. The videos can be viewed here.
The World Trade Organization’s final report on state aid to Airbus will be similar to that published in September, Bloomberg reports, citing a story in the French publication Les Echos, which cites unidentified people in the U.S. and Europe.
Some of the aid Airbus received for research will be judged as illegal, the report says, while the system of advances later repaid by Airbus will be found legal as long as the interest rate is in line with the market.
Airbus issued a response to the WTO report, saying it learned that 70 percent of the U.S. claims were rejected, while past loans were found to contain a certain element of subsidy. It also said that possible future funding for the Airbus A350 is not affected. U.S. attempts to include the A350 were specifically rejected, it said.
Airbus also said that the panel rejected U.S. claims that the measures have caused job or profit losses in the U.S. aircraft industry.
“Boeing claims of lost U.S. jobs have now been judged and found to be false,” Airbus said.
The results are in “stark contrast to Boeing’s enthusiastic expectations announced only last night in a statement by the company,” it said.
Now, Airbus, the European Union and member states will analyze the ruling in advance of a possible review of the WTO appellate body, it said.
Airbus expects the WTO to issue a report on Boeing in June. “Boeing’s recent WTO enthusiasm is unlikely to survive WTO confirmation that the B787 is the most highly subsidized aircraft program in the history of aviation,” it said.
Triumph Group, which has operations in Wichita, announced today an agreement to buy Vought Aircraft Industries from The Carlyle Group for $1.44 billion in cash and stock. The purchase will expand Triumph’s aircraft parts business.
The new company will be called Triumph Aerostructures – Vought Aircraft Division. Vought is based in Dallas.
After years of charges and counter-charges, the World Trade Organization is expected to issue a final decision Tuesday in a U.S. case against European government subsidies to Airbus.
Its rival, Boeing, issued a statement this afternoon saying the decision will affect hundreds of thousands of U.S. aerospace workers who’ve competed “with an illegally subsidized Airbus, but one that will set an important precedent for the broader, global aerospace industry.”
Boeing called it “disappointing” to see news reports quoting a senior German official saying Germany is prepared to provide 1.1 billion Euros for the development of the Airbus A350.
Another chapter in the tanker saga unfolded this weekend, with reports that Russia’s state-run United Aviation Corp. planned to bid on a contract to replace the U.S. Air Force’s aging fleet of tankers.
Los Angeles-based attorney John Kirkland told a variety of news outlets that UAC would announce a joint venture today.
But the UAC has denied that it’s held any talks on bidding for the contract.
“We have not been holding, are not holding and are not planning to hold such talks,” a UAC officials told Reuters.
Last week, EADS asked the Pentagon to delay the bidding process three months so it can decide whether to bid in the wake of Northrop Grumman’s pulling out of the process.
Hawker Beechcraft chairman and CEO Bill Boisture has been elected to the Corporate Angel Network’s board of directors.
The Corporate Angel Network arranges free transportation for cancer patients who need treatment using empty seats of corporate aircraft. More than 200 patient flights are taken every month.
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