The first flight this summer of the twin-engine Airbus A350 widebody jetliner will likely ignite the expected competition with Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner and the not-yet-but-expected-to-be-launched 777X.

Throughout its investigation into the Jan. 7 Japan Airlines Boeing 787 lithium ion battery fire, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has posed the same question in various forms: Do advances in aviation technology at times move so fast that they outpace regulators’ ability to develop standards for cutting-edge equipment or manufacturers’ ability to test that equipment to adequately predict the full range of potential in-service eventualities on a new aircraft?

TUI Travel has signed a commitment for 40 Boeing 737 MAX-8s and 20 Boeing 737 MAX-9s, plus options on a further 90 aircraft.

Thomson Airways has taken delivery of its first of eight Boeing 787s, the first to be delivered to a UK airline.

Boeing is establishing new centers for engineering design, propulsion and out-of-production airplane support for its Commercial Airplanes unit.