Ho Chi Minh City's Long Thanh airport is to become an international gateway in 2020.

It is time for another trip back to the future, according to the only airship company in the U.S. But the competition to fulfill a persistent surveillance role is likely to be just as stiff as it was in the past. This next step is being taken by Airship Ventures, which operates Eureka, a 246-ft.-long Zeppelin NT semi-rigid airship, from historic Moffett Field. This an airfield south of San Francisco from which the U.S. Navy briefly sent dirigibles and blimps on patrols of the California coastline in the mid-1930s.

Until recently San Diego International Airport could glumly admit to being the gateway to the largest U.S. market without nonstop service to Asia, and the only major West Coast city never to have had direct flights to Japan. The problem has been the airport's 9,400-ft.-long runway. Though capable of supporting nonstop Boeing 777 direct eastbound service to the U.K., Runway 9/27 is too restrictive for longer-haul westbound operations flying against headwinds across the Pacific.

Like heavyweight boxers preparing for the propulsion fight of the century, the two mid-thrust challengers—CFM International and Pratt & Whitney—are squaring off with new sets of critical hardware tests for their competing designs.

Boeing is advancing its 777 and 787 programs by shuffling duties for two veterans at its Everett, Wash., widebody jet factory. Vice President Larry Loftis has become general manager of the Boeing 787, where the emphasis is on production increases and the introduction of the airplane's long-range 787-9 variant into final assembly. He previously headed Boeing 777 production, which already is at the build rate Boeing wants the 787 to attain.

When an Air New Zealand Boeing 777-300ER completed a Los Angeles-Auckland flight in December, it was the first time an airline operated under 240-min. extended operations (ETOPS). But the new 240-min. limit is no longer the edge of the envelope—330 min. is now poised to become the new ETOPS gold standard—ever since last November when Boeing received type design authority from the FAA to offer a 330-min. ETOPS “option” on the General Electric GE90-powered 777 family.

An agreement to cooperate on energy conservation and emissions technology research deepens Boeing's ties with China's commercial aviation establishment.

Like miners hitting a rich vein, Boeing struck gold when it began delivering Boeing 777s almost 17 years ago. Now, with advanced 777X derivatives under study for service entry around 2019, the manufacturer is looking to protect the family for the rest of the decade with a set of interim upgrades.