Editorial opinion – Page 5
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OpinionLion Air crash shows whole safety system under strain
Hours after the Indonesian inquiry into Lion Air’s fatal Boeing 737 Max crash published its sobering findings, the US Federal Aviation Administration reassured that it was reviewing the proposed changes to the embattled twinjet’s design. “The aircraft will return to service only after the FAA determines it is safe,” insisted ...
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OpinionWhy Gulfstream is right to think big with G700
Tom Wolfe called them Masters of the Universe in his 1987 novel The Bonfire of the Vanities – Wall Street plutocrats with wealth and influence to control every detail of their lives with a phone call, command, or flash of a credit card. For today’s Masters of the Universe – ...
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OpinionCan Qantas go the distance with Project Sunrise?
On paper, it shouldn’t work. Nonstop flight between the UK and Australia was certainly once a “holy grail” of air transport, and even that was an improvement on being a ludicrous prospect when antipodean travel was an endurance feat involving days in transit and a multitude of refuelling points.
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OpinionWho will prevail in US Army's FARA battle?
As one of the most intriguing current helicopter competitions, the US Army’s search for a Future Assault Reconnaissance Aircraft is entering a crucial few months, before it awards prototype contacts for two bidders to participate in a winner-takes-all fly-off.
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OpinionWill Boeing/Porsche pact turbocharge urban mobility?
There have been hints before that the automotive sector was looking with interest at the potential offered by urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles, but the pact between Boeing and Porsche provides the most concrete evidence so far.
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OpinionWhy India must learn from Rafale procurement
Pronouncements at aircraft handover ceremonies are not prone to understatement. Indeed, Dassault hailed its delivery of the first of 36 Rafale fighters to New Delhi as a “celebration of the history of mutual trust” between the French company and India.
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OpinionCould Genx-powered 767-X usurp Boeing’s NMA?
Boeing’s closely guarded studies into what would effectively be a relaunch of the 767 for the 2020s add a fascinating new aspect to the long-running debate about the mid-market sector.
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OpinionCommunist party shows Cold War is back
Beijing’s vast parade on 1 October, celebrating 70 years of Communist Party rule, again underlined – as if there was any doubt – its dream of military domination in the Asia-Pacific.
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OpinionWhy there can be no victors in looming trade war
When the Cold War descended into its sub-zero depths of paranoia, the prevailing assumption was that neither side would dare to initiate a thermonuclear exchange because, no matter how intense the first salvo, the retaliatory strike would be sufficient to obliterate the aggressor.
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OpinionWhy sentiment could not save Thomas Cook
Sentimentality has little place in the harsh realm of modern business. There might be an inescapable sense of injustice surrounding the Thomas Cook affair, a feeling that a company approaching its third century of trading deserved a break.
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OpinionWhy Boeing safety division must have power to act
One of Boeing’s many challenges in the wake of the twin 737 Max disasters is how the company should reshape its internal systems to ensure the errors that led to the crashes – whether of omission or commission – are not repeated.
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OpinionCan US Air Force keep pace with its ambitions?
Speed kills. To defeat a near-peer adversary such as China or Russia in a future conflict, the US Air Force must operate at a pace that such nations will be unable to match.
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OpinionWill Airbus' market forecast come close to reality?
Anyone cursing being caught in a downpour without an umbrella after believing a forecast of fine weather would doubtless agree with former prime minister Winston Churchill’s opinion on the risks of predicting the future.
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OpinionIs three a crowd for Tempest programme?
This year’s DSEI brought further good news for the UK’s Tempest programme, with the Italian government and leading industry players signalling their intention to work in partnership on a next-generation fighter.
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OpinionWhy B-52 remains strategic champion
Second World War dust was still settling when, in late 1945, the US Air Force (USAF) called for a new strategic bomber.
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OpinionCan urban air mobility win public confidence?
In the 12 decades since the Wright Brothers, commercial aviation has advanced greatly, but there have been only a few genuinely disruptive technologies – those alignments of science, innovation, and market opportunity that, almost from nowhere and very quickly, fundamentally change the industry.
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OpinionManufacturers must heed Emirates chief's rebuke
Tim Clark never knowingly pulls his punches, but the Emirates president has clearly run out of patience over the seemingly endless inability of aircraft and engine manufacturers to deliver service-ready hardware.
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Opinion
Why bigger is better for aerospace companies
Flight International’s latest report on the biggest companies in aerospace underscores a powerful reality about the industry: the big are getting bigger. In revenue terms, number-one-ranked Boeing has broken through the $100 billion ceiling, and billion-dollar-plus firms now make up two-thirds of the Top 100. Organic growth is broadly real, but only part of the story, because what is really driving this up-sizing are mergers and acquisitions.
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OpinionTaiwan deters the “abyss” with F-16V buy
Beijing’s reaction to the US government’s plan to sell 66 Lockheed Martin F-16Vs to Taiwan was as rapid as it was predictable.
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OpinionBusiness aviation must embrace green revolution
In business aviation, sales slumps are usually broken by the arrival of new products – and the latest shipment report from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) shows that rule still holds true.
