Airbus Revives A220 Sales as AirAsia Places Largest-Ever Order
AirAsia Group placed an order for 150 Airbus A220 jets, the largest single purchase in the program’s history. The deal, signed at Airbus’s Mirabel facility, more than doubles the 66 A220 sales Airbus recorded in 2024‑2025 combined. It pushes total A220 deliveries past the 1,000‑aircraft milestone since Airbus acquired the Bombardier C Series in 2018. The order revives momentum for the narrow‑body type after a period of sluggish sales.
The Coming Air Age that Wasn’t: How Igor Sikorsky Provided the Template for eVTOL Hype
In October 2016 Uber Elevate released a white paper promising electric vertical‑take‑off‑and‑landing (eVTOL) air taxis, igniting a wave of hype that peaked in 2021 when developers like Joby and Archer announced billion‑dollar revenue forecasts. Analysts such as McKinsey and Morgan...
FAA Eyeing Purchase of Dallas Building for Consolidated ATC Facility
The Federal Aviation Administration is evaluating the purchase of a large office tower in Dallas, Texas, to serve as a future consolidated air traffic control (ATC) campus. Congress allocated $1.9 billion in FY2024 for closing at least three en‑route facilities and...
Ethiopian Airlines Is Plotting a 100-Jet Fleet Expansion Even as It Weathers Oil Shock
Ethiopian Airlines is preparing to order more than 100 new jets, targeting a fleet size roughly double its current level by 2040. Deliveries are slated to begin after 2032, with the next order wave expected within the next two years....
Boeing’s 737 Max Engine Anti-Ice Fix Finally in the Air
Boeing has begun formal certification trials of a new engine anti‑ice (EAI) design fix for its 737 Max family, targeting the pending entry of the Max 7 and Max 10 into commercial service. The flight tests are being performed on Boeing’s lead Max 10...
Vertical Aerospace’s Piloted Transition Flight Is a Technical and Business Milestone
Vertical Aerospace announced that its VX4 eVTOL prototype completed a one‑way hover‑to‑wing transition on April 2, 2026, followed by a full hover‑to‑wing‑to‑hover flight on April 14. The delays were caused by weather and a rigorous data‑driven testing approach. The milestone validates the...
Spirit Airlines Seeks U.S. Government Aid as Oil Spike Threatens Turnaround
Spirit Airlines has asked the Trump administration for hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency funding to offset soaring fuel costs and avoid possible liquidation. Executives from several low‑cost carriers are slated to meet Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy next week...
FAA Quietly Developing AI-Enabled Predictive Air Traffic Management System
The Federal Aviation Administration is quietly building an AI‑driven tool called Strategic Management of Airspace Routing Trajectories (SMART) to predict and resolve air‑traffic bottlenecks before flights depart. Administrator Bryan Bedford is championing the effort, with Palantir, Thales and Airspace Intelligence...
Army Aviation Chief: D.C. Crash ‘Wasn’t About’ Outdated Black Hawk Cockpit
Army Aviation chief Maj. Gen. Clair Gill said the 2025 D.C. mid‑air collision involving a UH‑60L Black Hawk was not caused by the aircraft’s outdated cockpit. The NTSB identified systemic airspace‑management failures and faulty altimeters as primary factors. The Army...
The Air Current Adds Julie Johnsson to Editorial Team as Global Correspondent
The Air Current announced veteran journalist Julie Johnsson as its new Global Correspondent, expanding the outlet’s editorial reach across commercial aerospace, airlines, and financial markets. Johnsson, a former senior aerospace reporter at Bloomberg with 15 years of experience, is known...
FAA Short-Lists Competitors for Key Next-Gen ATC Software Platform
The Federal Aviation Administration has short‑listed five firms—Collins Aerospace, Leidos, Thales, Indra and Frequentis—to develop the Common Automation Platform (CAP), a software layer that will underpin the next‑generation national air traffic control system. The CAP concept is tied to the...
United CEO Is Skeptical of eVTOL Airport Taxis, but FAA Has a More Nuanced Take
United Airlines' CEO Scott Kirby publicly expressed doubts about the practicality of using electric vertical take‑off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft as airport shuttles, despite a 2021 $1 billion conditional order with Archer Aviation. Archer’s certification delays have pushed its Midnight eVTOL...
U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX Fighter Mired in Delays and Disagreements Despite Fresh Funding
The U.S. Navy’s sixth‑generation F/A‑XX fighter program received a fresh infusion of nearly $1 billion from Congress in February, reviving hopes for a stealthy “quarterback” aircraft to operate alongside unmanned systems. The jet is intended to anchor the Navy’s Pacific strategy...
D.C.-area ATC Evacuations Followed 2025 Smoke Event Which Injured Controllers
The Potomac Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) experienced three smoke‑related incidents within a year, beginning with an unreported April 2025 event that caused nausea, dizziness and permanent loss of FAA medical certificates for several controllers. In March 2024 the facility was evacuated...
Caught Between Airbus and Airlines, Pratt Prioritizes the Grounded Fleet
Pratt & Whitney is wrestling with a powder‑metal contamination problem that has grounded more than 2,000 Airbus A320neo family aircraft. The issue affects the PW1100G engine, which powers roughly 46% of the 4,400 Neo deliveries since 2016. While Airbus pushes for...
Boeing’s Certification Logjam Begins to Break with FAA Approval of 787 Upgrade
Boeing secured FAA approval for increased maximum take‑off weight (iMTOW) variants of its 787‑9 and 787‑10 wide‑bodies, the first major certification since the 737 Max 8200 in 2021. The 787‑9 gains 10,000 lb, reaching 571,500 lb, while the 787‑10 adds 14,000 lb to 574,000 lb....
FAA Clears Boeing 777-9 to Begin First Part of TIA Phase 4 Certification Trials
The FAA announced on March 17 that Boeing received clearance to start Phase 4A of the Type Inspection Authorization for its 777‑9, the first segment of the five‑phase certification program. Phase 4A will involve extensive air‑ and ground‑based system tests, mirroring the workload...
NTSB Board Member J. Todd Inman Abruptly Departs Safety Watchdog
J. Todd Inman, one of five members of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, has abruptly left the agency, according to sources. His departure follows the Senate’s Feb. 25 confirmation of John Deleeuw, former American Airlines safety chief, which restored the...
Hyundai eVTOL Subsidiary Supernal Lays Off Most of Its Staff in Major Retrenchment
Hyundai Motor Group’s eVTOL arm Supernal announced a major workforce reduction, laying off 296 employees—roughly the bulk of its staff. The cuts underscore the subsidiary’s struggle to deliver a market‑ready electric vertical take‑off and landing aircraft despite five years of...
How Clashes Between Sean Duffy and Bryan Bedford Intensified FAA’s Year of Turmoil
Sean Duffy entered the Transportation Secretary role just hours before a tragic mid‑air collision killed 67 people, thrusting him into the public eye as the FAA’s crisis manager. Five months later, President Trump’s pick, Bryan Bedford, assumed the FAA Administrator...
Xcert AI Wants to Save Human Experts Time, Not Replace Them
Swiss startup Xcert AI has built an artificial‑intelligence assistant aimed at easing aerospace certification and compliance paperwork. The platform does not claim to replace human experts; instead it augments them, delivering expert‑level output in roughly half of the cases tested....
Boeing Retires Final 787 Test Aircraft After 16 Years
Boeing has retired its last 787‑8 test aircraft, ZA004, after nearly 16 years of service. The plane, which first flew on February 24, 2010, was a core platform for propulsion testing, especially for Rolls‑Royce Trent 1000 engine upgrades. Captains Heather Ross and Craig...
Newcomer ERC, Now Flight Testing, Keeps Germany’s eVTOL Dreams Alive
Germany’s eVTOL sector has faltered, with Lilium and Volocopter bankrupt and Airbus pausing CityAirbus, leaving the country’s air‑taxi ambitions in doubt. This week Munich‑based ERC System completed the maiden flight of Romeo, a full‑scale lift‑plus‑cruise eVTOL weighing over 6,000 lb, making...
How a Solar Impulse Spinoff Cleared a Major Battery Certification Hurdle
Swiss startup H55, a Solar Impulse spinoff, announced it has successfully completed a full certification test sequence for its high‑energy propulsion batteries, with the tests witnessed and approved by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The milestone proves the...
ATR Maps Out the Rest of Its Decade
ATR CEO Nathalie Tarnaude Laude outlined a decade‑long roadmap that moves the French‑Italian turboprop maker from a turbulent 2025 into a period of accelerated production and market expansion. After a half‑decade of supply‑chain reconstitution, the company claims it achieved stabilization and...
What to Watch for as NTSB Determines D.C. Midair Crash Probable Cause
On Tuesday the NTSB will announce and vote on the probable cause of the Jan. 29, 2025 midair collision between an Army Black Hawk and an American Airlines CRJ700 at Washington D.C. The board will also consider safety recommendations, though the final...
FAA Moves to Codify Existing DCA Helicopter Restrictions Into Law
The FAA issued an interim final rule on Jan. 22 that permanently codifies helicopter and powered‑lift restrictions around Washington’s Reagan National Airport following the Jan. 29, 2025 Black Hawk‑CRJ700 collision. The rule lowers the vertical‑lift altitude ceiling to 1,500 feet and defines “essential” flights—medical,...
The Accountability Problem Exposed by the First Garmin Autoland Deployment
Garmin’s Emergency Autoland, designed for pilot incapacitation, saw its first operational use on Dec 20, 2025 when a Beechcraft King Air B200 experienced rapid depressurization. The system automatically engaged and guided the aircraft to a safe landing at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, while...
Jeppesen ForeFlight CEO Cites Automation and AI in Justification for Layoffs
Jeppesen ForeFlight announced significant layoffs, citing automation and artificial intelligence as drivers of change. The cuts come months after Boeing divested the two aviation‑software units, which were bought by private‑equity firm Thoma Bravo. CEO Brad Surak emphasized the need to modernize development...
United Converts 56 787-9s to -10s as GE and Rolls Spar for Engine Deal and A350 Looms
United Airlines announced it will convert 56 pending Boeing 787‑9 orders into the larger 787‑10 model. The shift addresses chronic gate shortages and limited air‑traffic‑control capacity at U.S. airports. United has not yet chosen an engine supplier for the aircraft,...