It seems inconceivable that a small device with no movable parts—and roots back to the 18th century

The delegation of U.S. politicians at the Farnborough International Airshow was so large they could scarcely fit on the same stage. “Don't push me over the edge, Cornyn,” Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) quipped to fellow Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) at an event marking the start of the week-long gathering.

Budget and political decisions made in Berlin, Brussels and Washington will help shape the global aerospace industry. So it was not surprising that an undercurrent of anxiety ran through the recent Farnborough air show (see p. 43). Uncertainty from a financial crisis in Europe, potentially hefty cuts to U.S. defense spending, and slower economic growth in Asia and Latin America have put buyers and suppliers on edge.

With an eye on fuel efficiency, some airlines are turning to turboprop aircraft instead of jets. The new 90-seat model from French-Italian manufacturer ATR looks especially promising in this market, which makes it all the more perplexing that ATR has been unable to persuade its shareholder EADS to commit to investing in a more modern family of turboprops.

Next year, Indonesia's Lion Air group will receive a Boeing 737-900ER every 15 days, and an ATR 72-600 every 30 days, expanding its fleet by a third in 12 months. Garuda Indonesia plans to double its fleet within the next 3.5 years. Taking delivery will be the easy part. For every new narrowbody, an airline needs to employ at least six pilots, and to do a Boeing 737 line-maintenance check requires four maintenance technicians. The difficult part will be finding enough of these maintenance technicians and pilots to support the fleet growth.

You can tell when the top leadership of China is not satisfied with an economic sector. It fires off a public memo addressed to the provinces, certain major cities and central government departments. It lists its gripes, sets out its objectives and states what it wants done. Then it hopes they will listen. Such a memo, better called a policy guideline, has just emerged with the stamp of the state council, China's equivalent of the national cabinet. Its subject is aviation.

Rockwell Collins has joined forces with Boeing to develop a flight-deck upgrade for the 767 and 757 using 787 technology. Supplemental type certification is expected in the second quarter of 2014. This coincides with the start of deliveries of 46 new-build 767-300 Freighters to FedEx Express, the unidentified launch customer for the cockpit upgrade.

The benefits of satellite-based approaches, precision landing systems and autoland capability have all been recognized for years. But new initiatives to seamlessly link these technologies promise even greater gains in streamlining air traffic and improving low-visibility operations.