One way to try to escape cataclysmic budget uncertainty is to cover all the bases. Consider EADS's Lakota Light Utility Helicopter, one of the programs that fared poorly in President Barack Obama's long-term budget plans. The Army asked for just 10 this year and no more after that. But members of Congress appear to be persuaded by EADS's pitch of a low-cost, robust platform that delivers on time and is entrenched in the U.S. industrial base. The House's spending committee added funding to procure 31 Lakotas, and its Senate counterpart funded 20.

Almost a year after Embraer flew its first midsize jet, the Legacy 500, the company is preparing to fly its smaller sibling, the Legacy 450. The two models, essentially the same aircraft sized for different markets, are part of the Brazilian airframer’s ambitious agenda to offer a product in every major business-jet category.

Business aviation in North Africa is growing at a rate nearly double the global average, but activity is down this year, according to the Middle East Business Aviation Association (MEBAA). MEBAA points to WingX data that shows the number of registered business aircraft is increasing at a compound annual growth rate of 6.3%, compared with the global average of 3.7%.

While most of the focus on the Oct. 4 International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) emissions agreement has centered on market-based measures (MBM), business aviation advocates are pointing to other aspects of the resolution – such as technological improvements – as playing an equally important role in reducing global emissions.

Redbird Skyport’s fuel-price sensitivity experiment has drawn such an overwhelming response that the San Marcos, Texas-based fixed-base operator is ending its $1-per-gal. offer on Oct. 15 instead of the end of the month as originally planned, saying it simply can’t keep up with demand.

We are told there is no silver bullet for aviation biofuels, and that the best choice of feedstock-to-fuel pathway will be regional, even local, not global, as petroleum-based jet fuel is today. But there is an option the aviation industry hopes could work pretty well, almost anywhere, and that is algae.

Once gain, Alitalia, the perennially ailing Italian carrier, finds itself in the unenviable position of needing to restructure. It must come to terms with the fact that it needs new investors and a strong partner. Being a SkyTeam member has not brought about the salvation the carrier hoped for, and the survival plan put in place in the late 1990s, although welcome, certainly does not ensure a workable future. In the short term, Alitalia, which posted a €294 million ($397 million) loss in the first half of 2013, reportedly needs €400-500 million to avoid bankruptcy.

The price of European Union carbon dioxide allowances (EUA) under the EU Emissions Trading System made strong gains in September in the run-up to and following German elections Sept. 22. The national vote handed Chancellor Angela Merkel a resounding victory, with her conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) attracting 41.5% of the vote, the party's best result in 23 years but still a few seats short of an overall majority.