Malaysia’s AirAsia and the Qantas group’s Jetstar Airways are likely to deepen cooperation after announcing an alliance whose ambitions so far include seeking to influence the design of future narrow-body airliners from Airbus and Boeing. The planned joint specification from the two budget carriers will present Western manufacturers with a powerful Asia-Pacific-region influence in the design of narrow-body aircraft, just as airlines in the Far East have long been heavyweight players in determining the characteristics of wide-body commercial transports.

Japan is risking a rapid loss of fighter engineering skills, an official review of the industry warns, while urging the government to avoid fully importing combat aircraft. Estimates of future engineering effort starkly illustrate an unspoken argument for Japan to buy and develop advanced versions of the Eurofighter Typhoon, Boeing F-15 or Boeing F/A-18E/F to fill its requirement for 50 fighters.

Japan Airlines looks increasingly likely to go formally bankrupt, probably under a so-called pre-packaged arrangement that would speed up court-directed reorganization of the carrier. The state bailout agency directing the company’s turnaround is proposing the bankruptcy as part of a plan under which it would inject government capital worth ¥300 billion into the airline, according to a draft that the agency has presented to lenders, the Nikkei newspaper reported.