All Opinion articles – Page 25
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Opinion
OPINION: India needs fighters more than factories
Visitors to Aero India this year could be forgiven for feeling a sense of déjà vu. Back in 2011, the soundtrack to the show was the roar of fighter aircraft as eager bidders put their jets through their paces.
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Opinion
OPINION: 737 Max 10 could be lucky 13 for Boeing
A 13th passenger-carrying version of the Boeing 737 is now being seriously pursued in Seattle. If launched later this year, the 230-passenger 737 Max 10 would be 1.68m (66in) longer than the 737 Max 9 and 15.1m longer than the 737-100 that first flew 50 years ago in April.
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OpinionOPINION: Will Bombardier's new loan stretch far enough?
Bombardier has picked up another C$372.5 million ($282 million) from Canadian taxpayers to repair a fractured balance sheet as it enters the most difficult phase of a multi-year financial rebuilding campaign.
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OpinionOPINION: Is A380 nearing the end?
Not long ago it was the future. Now the A380 is officially a museum piece. Two flight test examples of the world’s biggest airliner are set to spend the rest of their lives in heritage centres in Paris and Toulouse.
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Opinion
OPINION: The dwindling pool of T-X bidders
Back in October 1986, the US Air Force was faced with a difficult decision. It had received seven responses to a request for proposals to build two prototypes for the advanced tactical fighter competition that ultimately yielded the Lockheed Martin F-22. In the wake of later industry consolidation, the USAF, ...
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Opinion
OPINION: Does being launch customer matter?
In a world where profit is king, it feels odd to see two airlines squabbling over a title that appears to carry no commercial advantage.
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Opinion
OPINION: Why tardy MRJ is worth waiting for
Defending the latest delay to its MRJ programme, Mitsubishi Aircraft official Yugo Fukuhara notes: “Building and certifying a new aircraft is a very complex process and includes a lot of challenges.”
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Opinion
OPINION: Will political change hurt aerospace?
The election of Donald Trump and the UK’s vote to quit the EU were the seismic political events of 2016. Often compared as popular revolts against liberal elites, big government and open immigration, the billionaire celebrity’s administration and Brexit are, in fact, sending their countries on very different courses. Each ...
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Opinion
OPINION: Challenges awaiting airlines and OEMs in 2017
Another year, another airliner delivery record: 2016 marked the sixth consecutive rise in mainline jet production and the 14th time in a row Airbus had increased its annual output.
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Opinion
OPINION: Two heads are better than one for take-off checks
Twenty-first century cockpits have a cancer and, so far, there is no cure. Performance calculation and data-entry errors are unpredictable, liable to arise under certain conditions, taking many forms, with differing origins, and they hide, sometimes undetected, in the mathematical complexity of preparation for flight.
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Opinion
OPINION: Sales are not the only metric of success
As Leonardo chief executive Mauro Moretti notes, the bulk of the company’s core defence and helicopter activities are concentrated in its “twin-pillar” domestic markets of Italy and the UK.
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OpinionOPINION: How to keep a Cold War veteran flying
According to an old tale, a fighter pilot who had been instructed to hold off from landing while a B-52 bomber made an approach with a defective TF33 quipped to air traffic controllers: “Oh no – the dreaded seven-engine approach”. On 4 January, this perhaps apocryphal story became reality, when ...
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Opinion
OPINION: Can aviation beat human frailty?
To people who like to fly, perhaps to most people, fear of flying seems such an irrational fear. As our annual report on airline safety shows, accident rates are very low and trending firmly downward.
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Opinion
OPINION: Aviation's environmental challenges are on the ground as well as in the air
Our special report in this issue is a good reminder that while flying aircraft may be the most prominent factor in aviation’s environmental impact, emissions from jet engines are only part of the problem. Fortunately, as our report highlights, solid progress is being made on terra firma. Airports are achieving ...
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Opinion
OPINION: Is Gulf carrier expansion finally at an end?
When Emirates recently announced a surprise 75% fall in first-half profit, group chief executive Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum blamed “increased competition and the sustained economic and political uncertainty in the world”. He added that “the bleak global economic outlook appears to be the new norm, with no immediate ...
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OpinionOPINION: Trump's unfriendly fire threatens F-35
In regular instalments of 144 characters or less, the incoming US president appears committed to publicly renegotiating the terms of major defence contracts.
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Opinion
OPINION: Commercial sales dip provides breathing space
It says a lot about the health of the commercial airliner business when a likely combined orders tally of just under 1,000 jets for Airbus and Boeing in 2016 will be looked on as decidedly average.
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Opinion
OPINION: Airlines still waiting despite seismic 2016
While 2016 will be remembered as a year of seismic shifts on the political landscape, the impact of these on the airline sector are still to fully filter through.
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Opinion
OPINION: Boeing feels the pressure on Air Force One
In Donald Trump’s first act as weapons buyer-in-chief, the incoming US president shocked industry by demanding the cancellation of the Air Force One replacement programme, citing “out of control” costs.
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Opinion
OPINION: Range matters for Middle East business jet buyers
Whether for business or leisure, for the ultra-wealthy of the Arabian Gulf, being able to fly without stopping to New York and other US East Coast cities is a major plus. There is currently one business jet able to perform such a task – the Gulfstream G650ER. As a result, ...