California’s Surf Air is seeking to extend its scheduled business-jet service model to other large states—but are those markets ready for what company founders have called the “Netflix of aviation?”
Mooney International turned to Dzyne Technologies when it wanted to design its first all-new light aircraft in decades, the M10, and do it behind closed doors.
With the clock ticking toward the first run of the GE9X core in 2015, and manufacturing of the first full engine core components getting underway, GE is counting on these materials to play a critical role in reducing weight and boosting efficiency.
France is slowly replacing its aging Boeing KC-135Rs with Airbus A330 multirole tanker-transports, though defense budget constraints are hindering the transition.
The safety board’s final report on an APU battery fire in a JAL aircraft contains 18 recommendations to the FAA, Boeing and lithium-ion battery manufacturer GS Yuasa Corp., adding to five recommendations issued earlier in the investigation.
The South Korean parliament, allowing only modest funding for preliminary KF-X work, has kept open the possibility of economizing by replacing an indigenous KF-X design with the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet or an advanced development of that type.
The move will put competitive pressure on the Guangzhou city government, on which 9 Air relies for political support when seeking route rights. If permitted by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the second base also would give 9 Air an alternative path for development should its Guangzhou-centered strategy falter.
Spirit AeroSystems will pay Triumph Group $160 million to take on the former’s Gulfstream wing work packages in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The companies announced a deal Dec. 9. “This transfer continues Spirit’s transformation and allows us to further focus on our core markets of aerostructures for commercial and defense aircraft,” Spirit CEO and President Larry Lawson says. Triumph says it becomes a “major” provider of wings to Gulfstream, supplying the G280, G450, G550 and G650.
A 30-ft. long, multi-bay box test article made out of a low-weight, damage-tolerant, stitched composite structural concept called Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure, or Prseus, has been delivered to the NASA Langley Research Center for evaluation.
Renewed discussions around deliveries of the A350 and the future of the A380 along with a less than enthusiastic outlook for future profits left their mark on the Airbus share price last week. The stock was down more than 10% on Dec. 11, the worst decline in six years.
The global airline industry is forecast to benefit significantly from the drop in fuel prices, but part of the improvement will be passed on to consumers as lower fares, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasts. The association believes airlines will post a combined profit of $25 billion in 2015, up from $19.9 billion this year, $10.6 billion in 2013 and $6.1 billion in 2012. “We see falling oil prices giving a great boost both to the industry and consumers,” IATA Chief Economist Brian Pearce said last week.
