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737 Max

Three Points: American to lead 737 Max return, Embraer’s hybrid STOUT, Apple and green aviation

Jon Ostrower·November 16, 2020

The FAA is poised to order the Boeing 737 Max ungrounded this week. American Airlines will lead the jet's return after the 20-month grounding. Embraer's conceptual hybrid-electric STOUT for the Brazilian Air Force breaks cover and looks even more interesting than its E3 turboprop study. Apple's path to developing its new ultra-efficient M1 chip is an instructive guide for the strategic future of green aviation.

737 Max recertification risks becoming pawn in U.S.-China fight

Jon Ostrower·October 21, 2020

Deteriorating U.S., China relations loom over Boeing and its 737 Max recertification.

Scarce quality data on 787 skins as FAA peels back onion on Boeing

Jon Ostrower·September 8, 2020

On the evening of August 24, an 18-month old United Airlines Boeing 787-10 touched down at Newark Airport after a...

Colliding interests will force engine makers into a new business model

Jon Ostrower·July 23, 2020

You can only blame so much on a pandemic. Like a pre-existing condition that can make a case of COVID-19 deadly versus asymptomatic, the business model governing engine makers and their relationship to aircraft manufacturers made them exceptionally vulnerable. The collapse of global commercial aviation merely revealed the fundamental weakness baked into the relationship.

Three Points: Non-Farnborough, predicting traffic, BA sunsets 747

Jon Ostrower·July 20, 2020

There was supposed to be an air show in Farnborough this week. And even if there was, Americans wouldn't be able to attend. Our Travel Sentiment model is reliably predicting the ups, downs and stagnation of the U.S. air traffic recovery. Here's an update. British Airways decommissions its 747 fleet, another in a series of the long goodbye to the Queen of the Skies. It's hard out there for big airplanes.

Boeing’s 737 Max software done, but regulators plot more changes after jet’s return

Jon Ostrower·June 11, 2020

Boeing, regulators and airlines are cautiously optimistic a conclusion to the grounding of the 737 Max is realistically — and finally — in sight. That sets the stage for the jet’s return to flying around September at the earliest. All of this is happening while simultaneously plotting further long-term safety improvements to the aircraft to assuage regulator concerns, including adding systems to the Max that were previously rejected during the jet’s initial development.