Lion targets larger aircraft to replace its 787 order

Widebody replacement slows in Australia, speeds up in New Zealand

Airlines press Airbus for twin-aisle upgrades.

The Comac ARJ21 regional jet project has been delayed again, with the aircraft now due to go into service in April or May 2015, eight years later than scheduled early in the program and 13 years after development began. The first operator, Comac subsidiary Chengdu Airlines, will receive its first aircraft late this year or early next year, says the carrier's deputy general manager, Luo Ning. Further preparations will be made before operations begin in April or May, Luo tells local media.

This month, the FAA will begin a series of “contaminated” runway tests with a retired Boeing 727 at its William J. Hughes technical center in Atlantic City, N.J. Taxiing on 230-300-ft.-long “test strips” of 2-in.-deep “manufactured snow,” created by feeding ice blocks into a gasoline-powered chipping machine, the 727 will test a variety of new technologies aimed at providing pilots more information and training to deal with compromised surfaces.

Demand for 2013 disappoints, but the industry sees a return to trend

At a turning point in the development of Airbus, its leaders determined that the organization had become more than a loose consortium known as “groupement d'interet economique” (GIE), and Airbus was transformed into a proper company (“societe anonyme,” or S.A.) in the immediate aftermath of the formal A380 launch decision in 2001.

Trade-ins and slowed production sustain Boeing freighter lines