The low-hanging fruit in fuel efficiency, of course, is to make aircraft lighter. A piece of trivia cited on American Airlines' website illustrates the bottom-line impact of trimming down: “Removing just one pound of weight from each aircraft in American's fleet would save more than 11,000 gallons of fuel annually.”

ELG Carbon Fibre recycles carbon fibers with a patented process at its facility in West Midlands, U.K. Its commercial operation processes more than 2,000 tons of carbon composite waste per year from national and international companies. ELG Carbon Fiber will collect scrap from customers and from companies that wish to ship it. Suitable types of recyclable material include carbon composites reinforced with fabric or epoxy, vinylester and polyester. ELG can recycle dry fiber, pre-impregnated material that is cured or uncured and all monolithic CFRP laminates.

President Barack Obama has signaled that a new round has begun in the long-simmering dispute over commercial aircraft launch aid. This time, the target is not rival Airbus and Europe's governments. His sights are set on Canada, Russia and China—anyone who might siphon sales and jobs from Boeing's output into the industry's largest market segment, single-aisle jets.

Ever since Charlie Taylor hand-built the first four-cylinder piston engine for the Wright Flyer in 1903, most of the step-change advances in aviation propulsion have been driven by military-led research and requirements.

“The question is: Can China buy its way into commercial aircraft?” asks a senior Western aeronautical engineer who, thanks to painful experience in the past decade, knows a thing or two about the challenges in developing an airliner. With the Comac C919 now approaching the halfway point of its eight-year development cycle, the answer still seems to be “maybe, since China is not yet aiming at building a world-beater.”

Airline passengers increasing expect broadband access to the Internet onboard jetliners, similar to what they have at home, in offices, at restaurants and in airline terminals. No longer content with just simple text messaging, they expect the same Wi-Fi connectivity speeds at 35,000 ft. as they have on the ground. New technologies are emerging that will not only make this a reality, but also promise to reduce connection charges, thereby spurring increased demand and revenues for air carriers.

On several occasions in the past, French cockpit crews fiercely disputed the decisions of Air France's executives, both before and after the flag carrier's privatization. This dissension frequently led to walkouts, subjecting travelers to flight cancellations and other disruptions.

Last year proved to be a particularly difficult one for Russia's civil aviation industry, as multiple accidents raised concerns regarding the country's transportation safety culture. For many, last year's challenges beg the question: What is being done to ensure the highest possible level of aviation safety in Russia?