Aircraft & Propulsion

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

By Graham Warwick
New Zealand’s Dawn Aerospace has been certified to fly its Mk. 2 Aurora reusable suborbital spaceplane demonstrator at unlimited speed up to 80,000 ft.
Commercial Space

By Graham Warwick
Joby Aviation modifies S4 pre-production prototype into a technology demonstrator for hydrogen-electric propulsion.
Farnborough Airshow

By Jens Flottau, Robert Wall
Guillaume Faury is looking to bring more work in-house in order to deal with supplier issues.
Farnborough Airshow

By Michael Bruno, Ben Goldstein
Do Airbus and Boeing’s aerostructures reintegrations represent a trend, anomalies or both?
Farnborough Airshow

By Jens Flottau
Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury says two factors are “marginally affecting” the timeline for when the OEM will launch its next narrowbody aircraft.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Guy Norris, Graham Warwick
Comparing hydrogen-electric propulsion startups Universal Hydrogen and ZeroAviation reveals companies with quite different business approaches.
Farnborough Airshow

By Sean Broderick
Tasked with boosting both production rates and aircraft quality, Boeing is making long-needed changes to its decades-old production protocols.
Farnborough Airshow

By Tony Osborne
Airbus' new H160 twin-engine medium helicopter has begun route-proving trials in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of its offshore energy transportation debut.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Daniel Williams
This week’s Flight Friday revisits a similar analysis from earlier in 2024, the utilization of CFM Leap and Pratt & Whitney PW1000G (GTF)-powered aircraft.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Guy Norris
A surprising groundswell of single-aisle airliner propulsion systems are under development.
Farnborough Airshow

By Guy Norris, Sean Broderick, Thierry Dubois
Airframe production rate changes, stretched supply chains and durability remain major challenges in spite of rising utilization rates.
Farnborough Airshow

By Thierry Dubois, Guy Norris
To simplify its fuel cell engine design, Airbus elected not to use batteries that would have boosted peak power.
Emerging Technologies

By Guy Norris
Thermal management specialist Intergalactic has unveiled a curved microtube configuration for next-gen propulsion systems and other aerospace applications.
Emerging Technologies

By Guy Norris
Stratolaunch says a series of envelope expansion flights have allowed its Roc carrier aircraft to launch the Talon-A hypersonic test vehicle from 35,000 ft.
Emerging Technologies

By Daniel Williams, Guy Ferneyhough
The GEnx-1B has extended its lead over the Trent 1000 among Boeing 787 customers in recent years despite Rolls-Royce's best efforts to improve its engine.
AWIN Knowledge Center

By Helen Massy-Beresford, Thierry Dubois, Graham Warwick, Victoria Moores
As pressure to cut aviation’s environmental impact intensifies, non-CO2 emissions are in the spotlight.
Farnborough Airshow

By Joe Anselmo, Sean Broderick, Jens Flottau
Editors unpack a week that started with a unique media briefing at Boeing's Renton facility and ended with the purchase of Spirit AeroSystems.
Check 6

By Tony Osborne
Equinor’s investigation is independent of one currently underway by the state’s safety body, the Norwegian Safety Investigation Agency.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Michael Bruno
Boeing announced it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Spirit AeroSystems early July 1 which values the supplier at $4.7 billion.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain

By Graham Warwick
Cryo-compressed hydrogen; Nullforming antenna; Contrail mitigation; Condensed battery flies.
Emerging Technologies

By Jens Flottau
The airframer is building production and hopes for more KC-390 orders in defense as its executive aviation branch thrives. Where will it invest next?
Farnborough Airshow

By Guy Norris, Graham Warwick
Start-up zero-emissions propulsion developer Universal Hydrogen has been forced into liquidation after failing to raise additional funding.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Thierry Dubois
Airbus is conducting a flight-test campaign to study the water vapor exhaust from a hydrogen fuel cell system to understand if it will create a contrail.
Emerging Technologies

By Sean Broderick
A new plan focuses on tracking airplane production basics as key to addressing issues and eventually increasing production.
Manufacturing & Supply Chain