Aircraft & Propulsion

Safran is adapting to the production halt of the Boeing 737 MAX, finding ways to mitigate the financial consequences, but the company is already measuring job cuts in four digits.

The first Pratt & Whitney PW1200G engine to be assembled in Japan has been flown, installed in a Mitsubishi Aircraft SpaceJet prototype, the airframe company said.

The next three months could be decisive in the 16-year World Trade Organization dispute between Airbus and Boeing.

U.S. Navy Fire Scouts need reliability boost; India buys U.S. helos; Norway sends F-35s to Iceland; Tunisia to buy light attack aircraft.

Somewhere in Australia, Boeing and partners are building a loyal-wingman drone. A photo of a fuselage major assembly reveals details.

The Canadian government will provide $3 million to LAUAK Canada to establish a high-technology manufacturing center in Mirabel.

Virgin Australia plans to reduce capacity by accelerating the retirement of the last of its Airbus A320s operated by LCC subsidiary Tigerair.

An Airbus A321 passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversion—developed by joint-venture partners ST Engineering, Airbus and Dresden-based freighter conversion specialist Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW)—has secured EASA supplemental type certification (STC).

An FAA draft directive set for publication Feb. 26 calls for Boeing 737 MAXs to undergo inspections and modifications before further flight to ensure engine-control wiring has adequate protection from electromagnetic interference.

Spirit’s eVTOL tieup; electrified commuter aircraft; kitplane-based MALE flies; Volocopter raises more funds; Sweden’s electric aviation.

Ukrainian engineers are helping Chinese industry with the study of engine designs.

Russia’s Superjet 100 (SSJ100) regional aircraft has lost its last association with former designer Sukhoi Company.

In a breakthrough use of computer vision, Airbus makes swift progress in its autonomous takeoff-and-landing project.

Undoing Boeing’s stockpile of roughly 900 grounded, parked and partially built MAXs and recoordinating its supply chain could take years.

The company aims to produce up to 42 engines per year at the new plant.

Long-running blended wing body studies have so far come to nothing, but Airbus may have the technology to bring it to reality.

A radically modified demonstrator made its first flight in May 2019, but it has come to light only now after video was posted on social media.

As airlines grapple with capacity shortages created by the Boeing 737 MAX grounding or a sudden over-supply because of COVID-19-related schedule reductions, lessors are supporting their mitigation plans, including matching customers in both categories and moving aircraft between them.

Boeing is inspecting all 737 MAXs it has in storage and adding factory-floor precautions after discovering foreign object debris (FOD) in the fuel tanks of multiple MAXs, the company confirmed late Feb. 18.

SYDNEY and WASHINGTON—The U.S. government may not renew General Electric’s export license to supply CFM Leap-1C engines to Comac—a move that could

Advancing Asian UAM; removing space debris; fuel could help in gusts; measuring X-59’s shocks; DLR’s new Falcon testbed.

Both aircraft manufacturers have been forced to reduce production rates for widebodies as weak demand persists.

Ireland-based lessor AerCap, reporting $1.15 billion in net income for 2019, said its prospects are fair for 2020, although the continuing Boeing 737 MAX grounding is having an adverse effect on its figures.

With the aerospace manufacturing sector expecting Boeing to restart 737 MAX production as early as next month or April, one widely followed industry consultant said it will take up to two years to clear out the stored inventory of narrowbody aircraft and fuselages.

Airbus plans to cut the A330 production rate and stabilize the A350, in an acknowledgement of weak demand for widebody aircraft.