All Opinion articles – Page 14
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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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Opinion
Cabin crew treatment damages airline equality effort
For all the chat about diversity and gender equality among airlines over the past year, there are still some pretty outdated practices on display in the industry.
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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.
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OpinionPausing 777-8 could give Boeing vital breathing room
The crisis meetings in Seattle have got longer and bleaker in recent weeks, as the fallout from the 737 Max grounding continues amid significant disruption to Boeing’s other existing and future programmes.
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OpinionLeonardo needs good news for Yeovil helicopter plant
What next for the Leonardo AW159 Wildcat and its Yeovil, UK production site after Germany’s selection of the NH Industries NH90 for a naval requirement?
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Opinion737 Max might make sense for BA, despite fleet upset
The latest arrival at British Airways marks the next step in the transformation of the carrier’s fleet.
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OpinionWhy doctrine may be as important as speed
A US Marine Corps captain once asked a group of officer candidates: “What do we do?” None gave the correct answer: “We fight wars.” Simple, really, and classic Marines; when called upon, be ready. Except, of course, nothing is so simple, either back then in the Cold War or today in what, increasingly, feels like a new Cold War. To be ready, soldiers – as well as politicians and arms industry bosses – had best ask some more difficult questions: Who will we fight? When? How?
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OpinionWhy the A220 is starting to count for Airbus
Considering the degree to which the A220 is quietly flourishing under Airbus’s nurturing, the twinjet received surprisingly little attention during the airframer’s half-year results briefing.
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OpinionChastised Garuda forced to eat humble pie
As an airline accustomed to reporting losses, the pressure on Garuda Indonesia to show that it was making money in 2018 must have been huge for it to turn to some creative accounting – a move that has now backfired on it.
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OpinionAviation faces increasingly uncertain outlook
Glass-half-empty people generally do not run airlines; as the old saying goes, the industry has never made money. Like most old sayings, that one is not strictly true – but it is fair to note that “airlines” and “troubled” often go together.
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OpinionMax costs keep rising but airlines have few options
For months, Boeing has framed its 737 Max issues as a temporary, though unfortunate, setback to an aircraft programme that will surely rise again.
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OpinionSafety gains must not be undone by technology
Diligent application of hard-earned experience has made safety a hallmark of modern aviation; let’s not lose our grip on the basics of sound technique.
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OpinionSafran must take blame for Silvercrest failure
To lose one flagship aircraft programme may be regarded as misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness. It may be unfair to aim that paraphrasing of Oscar Wilde at Textron Aviation which has suspended the large-cabin Citation Hemisphere 10 years after ending its last attempt to break into unfamiliar territory, with the Columbus.
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OpinionHow the Airbus effect transformed A220 sales
Back when the Airbus A220 was still the Bombardier-owned CSeries, there was always the sense that the twinjet was a good product whose potential was hamstrung by, well, everything else.
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OpinionSaratov and the spectre of fatal fixation
There can be fewer more frustrating accidents than those involving an aircraft that would have been perfectly capable of remaining airborne, if only the crew had concentrated on flying it at the time.
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OpinionPiaggio must spell out role to secure future
If anyone requires a wonderful example of short- versus long-term planning - or tactics versus strategy, perhaps - then they could do worse than study the €700 million ($800 million) lifeline thrown to Piaggio Aerospace by the Italian government.
