The Tu-204-100 is a twin-turbofan, short/medium-range, narrowbody commercial transport aircraft powered by a pair of Aviadvigatel PS-90As, while the Tu-204-120 has two Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4 engines. The Tu-214 has a higher maximum takeoff weight (110,750 kg or 243,650 lb.) than the Tu-204-100. It retains the PS-90A powerplants of the -100 but carries additional fuel. The Tu-204's first flight occurred in January 1989 and through 2012, 87 Tu-204s and Tu-214s were produced. Just six Tu-214 aircraft are forecast for production in the 2013-22 period.

Viking Air owns the manufacturing rights to a number of out-of-production de Havilland aircraft, including the DHC-6 Twin Otter, an all-metal, non-pressurized, high-wing, twin-engine turboprop utility aircraft. In April 2007, Viking Air launched a program to restart production of the 19-passenger Twin Otter. The updated Viking Air Twin Otter Series 400 incorporates more than 800 changes to the Series 300, and is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-34s or optional PT6A-35s.

The MA60 twin-turboprop transport aircraft is a stretched version of the Xi'an Y7-200A, in turn a variation on the Antonov An-24. The 52-60-seater is powered by two 2,750-shp Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127J engines. Initial flight and delivery of the MA60 took place in 2000. A freighter version, the MA60-500, is also marketed. In May 2010, a new variant, the MA600, was awarded certification by the Civil Aviation Administration of China. It features reduced weight, an upgraded cabin, new avionics (the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 suite) and a host of other improvements.

Xian is developing a twin-turboprop regional airliner dubbed the MA700. This aircraft is a clean-sheet design, not an MA60 variant. Features include six-blade propellers, a T-tail and an unswept, high-mounted wing. Plans call for an initial variant seating 76-78 passengers. A stretched 90-seater would follow. MA700 service entry is targeted for 2018. Xian intends to pursue FAA and EASA certification for the MA700. The MA700 could eventually replace the MA60/MA600 in production.

While the uncertainty of two years of budget cuts and stop-gap spending bills may still not seem tangible to the public, “sequestration” is creating “chaos” for defense contractors.

Hobbled by the government's partial shutdown, the National Transportation Safety Board is standing down, except for the most pressing cases. “The agency can engage in those activities necessary to address imminent threats to safety of human life or for the protection of property,” the board said Oct. 10. Though it is clear investigators would be recalled for a major transportation disaster, how the NTSB is defining other “imminent threats” is murkier.

Among advanced developments hindered by the ongoing budget saga on Capitol Hill is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's proposed XS-1 experimental spaceplane. Darpa is polling industry for interest in developing a reusable hypersonic vehicle with expendable upper stages that can put as much as 5,000 lb. in space up to 10 times over 10 days. But Boeing, which has a lot of relevant technology in its X-37 spaceplane, isn't ready to commit. There is some uncertainty about what is and isn't going to be funded, Muilenburg says.

In what is an unusual set of circumstances, the commercial aircraft industry is flight testing three large passenger aircraft at the same time.