U.S. government agencies are quietly making “direct arrangements” with airborne Internet providers to obtain certain information flowing through broadband Wi-Fi systems for data and voice in airline passenger cabins.

Merkel nixed what would have been biggest merger ever.

It is a yardstick often cited, given to market timing and not always related to profits. Nonetheless, Boeing is on track to win the orders “race” in 2012 and the title of “world's biggest aircraft maker.”

Reporting in 2008 on Beijing's studies for a new airport, Aviation Week suggested that the facility would “probably be planned on a gargantuan scale.” We were not wrong. Plans show that the new facility at Daxing, now going ahead, could ultimately handle 130 million passengers a year with seven runways, possibly nine. One of the runways will be reserved for the air force.

Planning a new regional airport near Nantes, Brittany, at first sight a low-priority issue, has evolved into a political controversy encompassing a wide range of problems that extend far beyond the airline industry. The government of French left-wing Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, which has ratified the plan (as did that of his right-wing predecessor) is running into serious trouble with no compromise in sight.

Even as carriers await the full flowering of the FAA's Next Generation Air Transportation System and Eurocontrol's Single European Sky ATM Research (Sesar) effort, a purely intra- and inter-airline arrivals synchronization technology is racking up solid savings for one major carrier.

Airbus Corporate Jet Centre launched its new website showing the wide range of services dedicated to its customers. Its design is based on an “haute couture” spirit and offers a panorama of ACJC's values. It also includes a career space targeted for aeronautical experts and listings of available positions. It's designed for most browsers and will be optimized for viewing on smart phones and tablets.

Industrial robots are becoming a common sight on aircraft production lines, laying up composites, drilling holes, inserting fasteners and inspecting structures—automating repetitive tasks that require painstaking precision and drive up the touch-labor costs in aircraft assembly. Now robots are headed for the overhaul center. Lufthansa Technik and Helmut Schmidt University have developed an 8-axis robot that automatically strips the paint from parts using plastic-bead blasting, reducing the time required while improving quality.