Eurocopter has been building a relationship in Mexico for 30 years. So in 2010, when the government here asked for an offset agreement as a condition for selling 15 EC725 long-range tactical transports to the Mexican air force and navy, the company readily agreed. “At Eurocopter, proximity [to our markets] is a key word, part of our DNA,” President/CEO Lutz Bertling said at the opening of a $100 million factory here last month that is the offset payoff for that contract.

The merger of AMR Corp.'s American Airlines with US Airways is poised to create the world's largest airline. On the domestic front, however, the pairing of two of the remaining four legacy carriers marks something else: the continued consolidation of the U.S. airline industry. With just Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and a new American Airlines left—should the latest legacy merger receive regulatory approval—consolidation could be nearing the end of its 35-year run since deregulation in 1978.

Initial components of Russia's new MS-21 narrowbody airliner are starting to be assembled. Ulyanovsk-based Aviastar-SP, a United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) subsidiary, completed the first rear-fuselage section of the MS-21. This section will be used for fatigue testing in Riga, Latvia, according to Irkut Corp., which is developing the aircraft.

When Ed Winter decided to accept an offer to become CEO of Fastjet, a new highly ambitious low-cost carrier (LCC) for Africa, the challenges seemed clear: infrastructure constraints, taxation and other regulatory issues, low Internet penetration. It was not exactly going to be easy.

Rolls readies building higher-thrust XWBs, introduction on A350-900

U.S. airlines are more stable, but has consolidation helped?

Airlines slowly begin to plan for a summer without Boeing 787s

Increasing frustration at the lack of progress in reorganizing European airspace has led airlines to call for the effort to be refocused on more ambitious changes.