All Opinion articles – Page 9
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OpinionF-35 programme still lacking agility
For seasoned observers of the Joint Strike Fighter programme, the revelation that Lockheed Martin’s Block 4 modernisation effort for the F-35 is already running two years late and $1.5 billion over budget will come as no surprise.
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Opinion
Why strong supplier chain could save Boeing
With the world’s number one aerospace manufacturer facing a barrage of problems, from the Max grounding to the Covid-19 collapse in demand, Alex Krutz, manging director at Patriot Industrial Partners, considers whether a supply chain that is much more robust than in the past can be crucial to getting it through the crisis?
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Opinion
For SMEs, the crisis is only beginning
The situation could hardly be worse for Airbus, Boeing and first-tier suppliers. But for companies further down the supply chain it is. Highly geared and often dependent on a single customer, small- and medium-sized enterprises face a fight for survival as demand dries up. Their only hope is some sort of airline revival before it is too late
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Opinion
Years after cancellation, A380 freighter’s time may have come
FedEx’s crystal ball was clearly having an off-day when it churned out predictions for the Airbus A380 freighter 15 years ago. The US express cargo giant, once the launch operator of the A380F, expected to take delivery of the aircraft in 2008, enthused about a -900 stretched cargo variant, and forecast that passenger-to-freighter A380s would arrive by 2020.
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Opinion
Why airlines must mind the training bubble
Getting carriers back into service at the end of this crisis could run up against a perhaps unexpected obstacle: a shortage of simulator capacity for pilots
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Opinion
Embraer must present convincing ‘Plan B’
Collapse of merger with Boeing leaves the Brazilian airframer needing to detail an alternative.
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Opinion
Why industry can benefit from enforced hiatus in airliner production
Rates are being slashed as demand slumps - but this will provide crucial breathing space for stretched industry
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Opinion
For airlines, there has never been so much at stake
The fast-moving nature of the coronavirus crisis has created a curious situation where talk of airlines being on the brink of collapse is happening alongside discussions of how operations might be restarted in the coming weeks.
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Opinion
Boeing’s structural reboot vital to prepare for rebound
Management changes at US airframer are required as it seeks stability ahead of any recovery
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Opinion
How will states exert their renewed influence on airlines?
Airline bodies, chiefs and industry analysts have been warning since national lockdowns grounded scheduled passenger services that many carriers did not have enough cash to survive more than a couple of months.
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Opinion
Rather than solving social distancing, airlines face a waiting game
Seeing 75-year-old airline trade association IATA and ultimate industry disruptor Michael O’Leary express the same view on a topic is a rare thing, but we are living through unprecedented times.
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Opinion
Modernisation is key for US Army’s helicopter fleet - but not at any cost
Despite its platform modernisation efforts, the US Army’s helicopter inventory is increasingly showing its age. The Boeing AH-64 Apache, CH-47 Chinook and Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk are all decades-old designs, equally enhanced and weighed down by the equipment additions made over time. Source: AP/Shutterstock History ...
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Opinion
Adapting to coronavirus means removing its power to frighten
The airline industry is effectively being held hostage by organisms a tenth of a micron wide. In future, we may have to live alongside them, as is the case with other diseases
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Opinion
Will pandemic prompt a green reset for aviation?
The coronavirus crisis will abate before too long, but how will its impact change the nature of air travel?
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Opinion
Hailing the A310’s lasting legacy
Airbus invented the original widebody twinjet more than half a century ago, so it seems appropriate that a Toulouse product looks set to be the first of the breed to become extinct.
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Opinion
Student pilots may be worried, but better times will return
Who would be a pilot now? The crisis will have a profound effect on the prospects of the would-be aviators of today, and tomorrow
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Opinion
Aerospace industry must prepare for the new normal
Before the coronavirus crisis, airlines were forecast to take thousands of new jets. Now, how the industry copes with a wave of deferrals is the next question.
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Opinion
US Marine Corps backs away from tailor-made aircraft - and their expense
Expeditionary demands have honed the US Marine Corps into a unique force with enviable equipment – but its Pacific pivot means much could change
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Opinion
IATA is not crying wolf with airline ‘apocalypse’ warning
It is a mark of how quickly the global coronavirus crisis has escalated that when IATA describes the airline sector as being in an “apocalypse now” scenario, no-one is accusing the industry association of hyperbole.
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Opinion
Boeing is too big to fail, but any rescue will be conditional
Eleven years after the end of the 2007-2009 Great Recession, the USA is again having “too big to fail” discussions, with the airframer at their centre.
