Key Commercial Aviation Events Of 2020

A Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 crashed on Jan. 8 shortly after departing Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, Iran, killing all 179 people on board.

Boeing’s 777-9, first of the company’s flagship long-range 777X family, made its first flight at Everett, Washington, on Jan. 25. In July, Boeing delayed first deliveries to 2022, reduced 777 and 787 production and confirmed plans to end 747 production in 2022.

Bombardier in February sold its remaining stake in the former C Series program to Airbus for $591 million. The program is now the Airbus A220. In June, Mitsubishi acquired the CRJ regional aircraft program for $550 million. And in November, Spirit AeroSystems paid $275 million in cash for Bombardier’s Northern Ireland aerostructures business.

United Technologies and Raytheon merged in April to create Raytheon Technologies, the largest Tier 1 supplier in the aerospace and defense industry. The merger combined Collins Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney with Raytheon’s defense businesses.

Embraer accused Boeing of wrongfully terminating an agreement to form a commercial-aircraft joint venture after the U.S. aerospace giant canceled the deal, worth $4.2 billion to Embraer, in April.

The purpose-built freighter variant of the ATR 72-600 regional turboprop made its first flight Sept. 16 in Toulouse, with the first delivery to FedEx Express planned by early 2021.

In October, Boeing announced it will consolidate production and final assembly of the 787 widebody at its North Charleston, South Carolina, facility beginning in mid-2021, to save money in a smaller twin-aisle market.

Airbus delivered the first U.S.-assembled A220 to Delta Air Lines in October, which also was the first handover of the larger A220-300 variant to a North American operator.

Having halted flight testing in May, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in October suspended development of the SpaceJet regional jet for more than three years, citing market conditions.

Irkut Corp. in November rolled out the first Russian-powered version of the MC-21 narrowbody airliner. The Aviadvigatel PD-14 engines powering the MC-21-310 variant are alternatives to the the Pratt & Whitney PW1400G geared turbofans on the first four MC-21-300 test aircraft. First flight is expected by year-end.