Weighing the commercial market viability of Eurocopter's high-speed X3.

Airbus CEO Bregier talks about highs and lows of market

Spirit AeroSystems is not the only major supplier spun off from a major aircraft manufacturer to be in trouble. EADS subsidiary Premium Aerotec is replacing most of its executive board as the company struggles with inefficiencies in the ramp-up of key programs, particularly the Airbus A350.

As it prepares for the 737 MAX, Boeing is adding more automation and fuselage buildup capacity at its Renton factory south of Seattle. But it is keeping options open for the transition of the new airplane into the existing 737 Next Generation final assembly line.

Big shows are made for big news, and while there is no golden rule in the air transport business that says new product launches are best saved for major air events, Boeing hopes this year's gathering at Le Bourget will be the perfect venue for the go-ahead of the 787-10X.

The already relentless pace of the Trent engine program for the Boeing 787 is accelerating to new levels as Rolls-Royce ramps up flight- and ground-test development work on new and major derivatives of the Trent 1000.

There is little doubt that the Air France-KLM Group is in bad shape; its shares are trading at a fifth of their value in the company's glory days in 2007. Of all the elements contributing to Air France-KLM's debt (close to €6 billion, or $8 billion) and losses (a €530 million operating loss for the first three months of this year), the culture of complacency was probably the most damaging.

In 2011, a Chinese aero-engine industry executive told Aviation Week that, if necessary, the country would muster its resources and develop the CJ-1000 commercial turbofan on its own, so determined was it to end its reliance on Western imports. Two years later, it looks like all those resources had better be mustered. The industry's attempt at luring U.S. and especially Western European help is looking increasingly bleak, though it has secured Russian assistance and has employed expert Western engineers.