The plan had been new engines and minimal airframe changes, but it is not turning out that way.

Kazuo Inamori had no previous airline experience when he took the helm of struggling Japan Airlines in 2010. But the carrier's dramatic turnaround proves once again that good business practices can cross industry boundaries. Inamori, one of Japan's most successful and well-known entrepreneurs, was asked by the Japanese government to step in to help with JAL's restructuring. As Inamori (pictured) tells Aviation Week, his management techniques have worked just as well in the airline world as in other sectors.

LightSquared, a company that sought to build an advanced 4G telecommunications network, is considering bankruptcy, and several lawmakers are wondering why the Obama administration paid for testing of its system and gave it a waiver to operate in the first place. The tests on LightSquared's network resulted in the determination that it could interfere with GPS receivers.

When the business climate turns cold, companies can contract or invest. With the Pentagon staring at a potential $1 trillion budget reduction during the coming decade, defense company officials are beginning to pursue both options, sometimes simultaneously. Sean O'Keefe, chairman and CEO of EADS North America, says that in this climate the prudent course is to avoid making investments that could amount to nothing as lawmakers wrestle with what level of funding to provide to the military.

In a generally difficult economic climate, France's aerospace and defense equipment industry is coming off an excellent year in 2011, with a healthy backlog and a particularly strong performance in global export markets. The growth more than compensates for declining French defense equipment budgets, having helped mitigate the negative impact of Europe's financial crisis on the country's economy, and augurs well for· both prime contractors and suppliers in 2012.·

Boeing and Embraer, already working together on biofuels research, are extending their cooperation with an umbrella agreement that is more broadly focused on commercial aircraft manufacturing and design.

ADP Paris airports authority and Air France are scheduled to jointly inaugurate Roissy-Charles de Gaulle's (CDG) additional passenger terminal, dubbed S4, in July. This initiative is expected to strengthen the country's quest for hub dominance in continental Europe. With a touch of arrogance but also armed with convincing arguments, ADP President Pierre Graff and Air France Chairman/CEO Alexandre de Juniac jointly assert that Paris in the longer term will become an indispensable asset for the global airline industry.

When pictures emerged last year showing Afriqiyah Airways aircraft destroyed in fighting in Libya, it was emblematic of the enormous toll that the war exacted on the region's air transport sector. A year later, industry officials at the Marrakech air show tell Aviation Week that they are starting to see signs of the market settling and the groundwork being laid for new orders. Deals themselves may still be months off, but the relatively quick turnaround is nonetheless striking even as carriers are also struggling with high fuel prices.