All Opinion articles – Page 13
-
OpinionWhy Trent issues still rattle Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce’s admission that its final fix for problematic parts on the Trent 1000 TEN engine will now not arrive before 2021 brings to mind Lady Bracknell’s famous quote from The Importance of Being Earnest.
-
OpinionWill Air France fleet renewal include stretched A220?
Air France-KLM chief Ben Smith summed up one of the French flag carrier’s problems to investors during a briefing on its modernisation strategy.
-
OpinionGarmin autoland system is next step toward pilotless future
Just as we did not wake up one morning to find department store lift attendants had disappeared, or light rail systems in our cities suddenly without drivers sitting in the cab, the advent of autonomous passenger aircraft is unlikely to be as much a revolution as a decades-long journey of ...
-
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 ...
-
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 – ...
-
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.
-
OpinionThird time lucky for Air India privatisation?
If the Modi government’s second attempt to privatise Air India in as many years fails, it will not be for a lack of trying.
-
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.
-
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.
-
OpinionWhy Delta bucks trend in overseas airline investments
It is something of a curiosity that, given the plagued history of previous such strategies within the airline sector, Delta Air Lines’ buying of minority stakes in operators around the world has garnered little of the scepticism that accompanied similar spending sprees from other carriers.
-
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.
-
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.
-
OpinionAir New Zealand again goes external for new chief
Air New Zealand’s board is following a similar path in tapping talent outside the industry by appointing Kiwi-born US retail boss Greg Foran as its next chief executive, at a time when there is turbulence on the horizon.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
OpinionBritish Airways and Cathay Pacific woes demonstrate airline PR vulnerability
Cathay Pacific’s challenges have perhaps been more significant to the business’s long-term strategy, but they offer a similar example of how an airline can quickly lose control of its messaging.