When I wrote on 18 August 2006 that "I've got my own doubts about how much money can be justified to keep large jets flying" I may have inadvertently given the impression that I had doubts about how much money could be justified to keep large jets flying.

Having spent a gloriously unproductive ten minutes at Farnborough this afternoon watching an Avro Vulcan fly (see pic below) I would like to assure readers that I think the amount of money appropriate for keeping Vulcans flying is, basically, whatever it takes.

I apologise for any confusion that may have been caused. Readers are encouraged to attend the Farnborough public days this weekend for further clarification.

Mario Heinen is moving inside Airbus and his job as head of the A380 programme is being taken by Alain Flourens (left). He's been running the narrowbody programme for the last couple of years, but was president of Airbus Military in its earlier days. Heinen will now head the transnational cabin and fuselage centre of excellence, replacing Rudiger Fuchs who is leaving the company for reasons I know not. Flourens is replaced by one Daniel Baubil, a procurement expert. Full announcement below.

Boeing VP marketing Randy Tinseth is in London today where he personally presented the company's 2008 Current Market Outlook (CMO) for the next 20 years. This is aerospace we're talking about - the numbers are bemusingly huge and they make the industry's traumas look like a minor hiccup in the long run. If you believe them of course. Like Airbus' Global Market Forecast, Boeing's is produced bottom-up, airline by agonising airline, so it's hard to argue with.

But, the suspicion is that neither of them can resist giving it a little self-serving spin at the end. Here are my key points out of it - to stress, they're mine, not Boeing's.

An Unusual Attitude salute for an unnamed (I think) United Airlines captain, and international soccer referee Lubos Michel who both made difficult calls in public over the weekend.

Regular readers will know it's an article of faith for me that improved air traffic management is the only way that aviation is going to improve its environmental act to any meaningful extent in the near future. Part of that needs to be the widespread adoption of what's called required navigation performance (RNP) techniques. And it's starting to happen.

One of the biggest RNP programmes underway is the one at Southwest Airlines. They'be been a bit reticent about talking about it, but now, rather more characteristically, they're shouting about it. RNP is a wee bit complicated - but not that bad really, you just have to concentrate. Southwest has put together a nice presentation here explaining what's going on.

Their partner in all this is probably the world leader in RNP - Naverus. They have a great series of case studies on their site which really do show what the concept is all about. Start with the story that launched it all - the remarkable tale of how Naverus founder Steve Fulton, then an Alaska Airlines pilot, demonstrated at Juneau, Alaska how emerging navigation techniques could change the world. We really need to do more of this.

Here at Flight I've been managing the launch of a website in Chinese aimed at China's air transport business. We publish about 10 stories a day and it's been impossible to ignore the fact that all of a sudden some of them have contained some startling statistics for the month of May.

First there were the traffic figures for Beijing International airport - passenger numbers down 2.9%. Then Air China - passengers down 10.7%, RPKs down 6.7%. China Southern turned up with flat passenger numbers and RPKs up a miserable (by Chinese standards) 1%. China Eastern followed with passenger numbers down 8.1%

Here's the first of what may become an occasional series on Unusual Attitude (you never know with us bloggers...). Feel free to contribute more.

The reason I had my dalliance with the regional business recently and flew Exeter-Brussels was because I couldn't fly from Newquay, a couple of miles from where I was staying, to Brussels. In fact you can't fly to many places from Newquay, although they're working on it with increasing success. But, as of yesterday, you can fly to Dusseldorf, for which you can thank Rosamunde Pilcher. Obviously.

By a weird but genuine coincidence, a day after posting my observations on taxying times I was sent the latest US Bureau of Transportation Statistics on...aircraft taxying times. I didn't even know they collected the data. The special report is eccentrically titled "Sitting on the Runway: Current Aircraft Taxi Times Now Exceed Pre-9/11 Experience" - but you get the general idea. Below are some highlights.

Fact is, the aviation world doesn't have much in the way of ideas for becoming greener anytime soon. The only serious programme on the horizon is improved air traffic management - worth perhaps a valuable 12% in emissions but reliant on national authorities. Don't hold your breath.

But I think there is something that is not getting adequate attention. It's taxying (or taxiiing - as you wish.) Even at the same time as we're getting better at putting aircraft  in the right place at the right time in the sky, we're just awful at moving them from the terminal to the runway. In some places really awful. I was set thinking about this on a recent, enjoyable, trip.

Following the Eclipse 500 VLJ incident reported earlier, the FAA has overnight issued an emergency AD on the type. It's a real 'emergency' emergency AD. You can't fly the aeroplane again until you've done the checks and made the amendments - and of course depending on what you find in the checks you may have a grounded aeroplane on your hands.

This sort of thing happens of course and the world gets over it. But in the embryonic VLJ world the regulatory sensitivity is huge. Good luck to all concerned.