Word: aircraft
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...Like all new jetliners, the A380 was controversial in conception, delayed in construction and years late on arrival. But none could have predicted that the A380 would fly into the most turbulent economy in the history of aviation. Air France ordered a dozen of the $300 million aircraft in 2000, when the economic forecast called for steady growth. By the time Air France took delivery nine years later, the industry was on its knees and the big-spending investment bankers whose business- and first-class tickets make up the bulk of airline profits had largely evaporated...
...Aircraft analyst Richard L. Aboulafia of Teal Group has called the A380 "the worst product launch decision since New Coke." The A380 was born in a hub-and-spoke world where flights between countries were regulated. Now, airlines are freer to go point-to-point, avoiding the major hubs - and making 800-passenger megajets less necessary. (Emirates, the first to fly the A380 into New York City, quietly withdrew the plane from its JFK flights...
Hardest hit: makers of small, light and midsize jets, such as Cessna Aircraft Co. and Hawker Beechcraft. Cessna, the largest company in the category, has halved its workforce of 16,000 this year because projected 2009 deliveries were cut almost in half, to 275. "I don't think the market will bottom out until the middle of next year," projects Jack Pelton, Cessna's CEO. "Then we will slowly crawl out of this predicament when corporate earnings improve in 2011." The demonization of corporate jets by Congress, prompted initially by the CEOs of the Detroit automakers, has helped kill thousands...
Quest can fly above that storm. David Voetmann, along with aircraft designer Tom Hamilton, hatched the idea for the company in 1998. A former pilot who flew relief and medical-evacuation missions for a host of organizations in Africa, Voetmann realized in the '80s that someone had to develop a new bush utility plane, since refurbishing engines of old models like the Beaver was no longer cost-efficient. So he partnered with Hamilton and began tapping on the doors of nontraditional investors: missionary-aviation organizations. His hope was that they would provide seed money in exchange for Kodiaks at cost...
...Inside the Sky: A Meditation on Flight, has little use for hagiography or hero worship. But his meticulous breakdown of the fateful flight is highly complimentary to Sullenberger. One exception is the author's puzzlement over why such an experienced pilot chose not to apportion credit to his aircraft, whose "fly by wire" automation helps pilots handle basic tasks and is capable of overriding human fallibility. Sullenberger bristled at the suggestion that the plane deserved credit, arguing on Nov. 15 that the book "greatly overstates" the importance of the technology in the cockpit. For his part, Langewiesche seems to believe...