Aerospace

NIAR (Wichita State University) is adding eVTOL test facility in Wichita for late 2024 that will include out-of-ground and in-ground effect test rigs.

SPIRIT AEROSYSTEMS lost $617m in 1Q24 on 19% higher y-o-y revenues. It delivered 70 Boeing shipsets (44 737s) vs 116 (95) a year ago and 191 Airbus shipsets vs 176. Its current 737 production rate is approximately 31 aircraft/month.

EMBRAER had $32.4m net income on $897m revenues in 1Q24 vs $72.7m loss on $717m in 1Q23; it has $21.1b backlog vs $17.4 a year ago. It also confirmed plan to deliver 72-80 E-Jets and 125-135 business jets in 2024.

AIRBUS delivered 61 aircraft (three A220s; 51 A320neo Family; A330neo; six A350s) in April vs 54 (six A220s; 42 A320neo Family; two A330neos; four A350s) in April 2023. It also posted orders from BRITISH AIRWAYS for three A320neos and two A321neos, JAPAN AIRLINES for one A350-900, and an undisclosed customer for 51 A321neos.

The first launch of Rocket Lab’s proposed medium-lift Neutron is slipping to no earlier than mid-2025 due to development of its Archimedes engine.

Distributed-propulsion testbed flies; Airbus hydrogen APU demo; uncrewed delivery corridor; another Chinese eVTOL; and Wright’s megawatt-scale electric engine.

The goal of HyPower is to demonstrate the stable operation of a fuel cell in flight, including its restart.

Paul Dolan to Executive Vice President of Loar Holdings, NY.

Reed Macdonald to Chief Executive Officer of magniX, Everett, WA.

FAA opened new investigation of BOEING over whether workers falsified 787 inspection records of wing-to-fuselage joints.

LUFTHANSA now expects first delivery of 777-9 to slip into 2026. It has 27 on order.

CPP INVESTMENTS, Canada committed US$450m to ONTIC to support continued growth. CVC Capital Partners will remain invested in business.

KAMAN and TEXTRON SYSTEMS teamed to collaborate on KARGO UAV.

A breakdown of annual deliveries data reveals the ups and downs of how Embraer delivered 1,800 E-Jets over the last two decades and which models led the way.

Published on May 2, the UK Aircraft Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) report confirms company statements immediately following the Aug. 9 incident.

Unseenlabs, a French startup, plans to launch its Generation NexT constellation of radio frequency detection satellites in 2026.

It’s been a big year for United Launch Alliance, the Lockheed Martin- and Boeing-owned joint venture that has been remaking itself for the commercial space age.

AutoFlight’s V2000CG CarryAll received Chinese type certification on March 22, the first certification of a winged eVTOL aircraft in the world.

Founded in 2019, MightyFly says it is the first developer of large autonomous cargo eVTOL aircraft to receive an FAA flight corridor approval.

The two air taxi front-runners in the U.S. are developing piloted, four-passenger eVTOLS and aim to launch commercial service next year.

Howmet's John Plant, often seen as a shrewd prognosticator of large aircraft manufacturing rates, has slashed his company’s expectations for 737 shipments.

The long-awaited crewed debut of Boeing’s Starliner caps off a 13-year effort to certify multiple commercial providers of low-Earth-orbit astronaut transport.

The two German air taxi companies need state support to exit a funding crisis, but party politics and risk aversion may force their sale to foreign investors.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

AEROX FLUID POWER was added to Boeing's Premier Bidder Program.