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Three Points for the 2021 Dubai Air Show

Jon Ostrower·November 13, 2021

The 2021 Dubai Air Show is a test of the new normal and the first large-scale civil international air show since COVID-19 ravaged aviation. Yet, Dubai is set against the backdrop of a world that is not as flat as it used to be. Freight has kept the civil aviation business alive through the pandemic. The A350 is set for launch here, the 777XF is coming, too, but not yet. Russia’s MC-21 is making its debut in Dubai. It’s a project that represents the geopolitical tension disrupting once open east-west supply lines, but its biggest opportunity may be at home where domestic air travel is booming again.

A British Airways A380 executes a high-performance takeoff during a flying display at the 2013 Paris Air Show.

Three Points: Reactivating A380s, BizAv’s big picture, flying the B-36 Peacemaker

Jon Ostrower·October 22, 2021

The A380 is back, sort of. Airlines are reactivating the double-deck aircraft ahead of the loosening of COVID-related travel restrictions that promise to breathe life into dormant international routes. Just don't call it a comeback for the superjumbo. By all metrics, business aviation in 2021 is thriving. Back above 2019 levels, the industry is seeing a strong uptick in new development and commercial activity, but examining Honeywell's 10-year forecasts TAC steps back to look at the uncomfortable big picture for the industry's trajectory. What was it like to fly on the Convair B-36? We listen to a first-hand recollection about an aircraft that needed six turboprops and four jet engines just to get off the ground in the early years of the Cold War.

Climate challenge to aviation sets huge expectations for sustainable fuels

Dan Catchpole and Jon Ostrower·October 5, 2021

Airlines rally new climate targets at IATA’s annual meeting, puts onus largely on sustainable fuel production to meet 2050 carbon neutrality goal.

X-Wing comes to light as major new Airbus demonstrator program

Jon Ostrower·September 16, 2021

The Air Current has focused recent months extensively reporting on Airbus’s, until now, secret research effort to completely re-wing a Cessna business jet and rapidly accelerate a suite of new advanced flight control technologies -- including a foldable wingtip designed to flap freely in turbulence and maneuvers.

Afghans surround a Kam Air Airbus A340 at Hamid Karzai International Airport. Wakil Kohsar / AFP via Getty Images

Three Points: A reflection on Afghanistan, Embraer’s turboprop rethink, A350’s paint headache

Jon Ostrower·August 17, 2021

Afghanistan is lost. Beyond the crushing enormity of the human tragedy unfolding there, the jarring images from Kabul Airport capture not only the desperation to escape the Taliban, but the very essence of what aviation represents as a path to the future. Embraer heavily revised its turboprop concept and with it the company is shifting its focus from Asia squarely to North America. Qatar Airways has pulled 13 A350s from service on the order of its home regulator, but what's paint issue facing the aircraft?

Three Points: Airbus & Boeing freighters, swappable aircraft batteries, Cockpit Casual

Jon Ostrower·August 2, 2021

Airbus has launched its A350 freighter and the move is kicking off an arms race with Boeing, which has enjoyed a near-monopoly in the segment for decades. What if you could swap a battery between flights on an electric airplane? Tecnam thinks they may have the solution to speed up turn times for its P-VOLT commuter. Globetrotting ferry pilots document life in the air and what it's like flying through a pandemic when business is booming. Cockpit Casual is finally here and its worth every moment of your time.

Three Points: Delta’s deals are done, business travel’s green shoots, Alice’s new look

Jon Ostrower·July 6, 2021

Delta's A350 & 737 deals are done, clear signs of business travel's green shoots, Eviation's new look for its all-electric Alice.

United & Delta, head-to-head, chart different paths for fleet additions

Jon Ostrower·June 29, 2021

United unveiled a record deal on Tuesday with Boeing and Airbus for 270 new aircraft, but don’t take your eye off Delta.

Airbus pivots A350 to cargo to fix its freighter fortunes

Jon Ostrower·June 23, 2021

Seeing an opening with uncertain Boeing product strategy, Airbus advances toward an A350 freighter. Possible buyers urge consideration of an engine from GE.

Archer in June 2021 unveiled its Maker technology demonstrator on the heels of its merger agreement with Atlas Crest Investment Corp. and backed by a partnership with United Airlines that helped fuel the company’s lucrative public offering.

Three Points: CFM’s RISE strategy, Archer’s Maker unveil, a return to flying

Jon Ostrower·June 14, 2021

GE Aviation and Safran laid out their post-pandemic strategy, a broad technology development plan called RISE aimed at low-emission propulsion for commercial aviation in the 2030s. In a ceremony befitting the cinematic legacy of Southern California, eVTOL entrant Archer unveiled its Maker technology demonstrator. The well-funded start up is part of an industry gold rush that looks a lot like aerial entrepreneurs of the 1920s. Your humble correspondent returned to flying again after 470 days on the ground. But who's counting?

First Biden budget to accelerate push toward Boeing 737 replacement

Jon Ostrower·May 25, 2021

There are a growing number of recent comments from NASA officials and government notices that point to NASA plans for a piloted experimental X-plane to validate Boeing’s transonic truss-braced wing (TTBW) design as the possible template for a future smaller single-aisle. Boeing hasn’t decided on a path for its own development future, but the Biden budget priorities begin to put the U.S. government’s finger on the scale as a national stakeholder in the plane maker’s success or failure.

The pandemic didn’t stop Breeze, it gave David Neeleman a new business model

Jon Ostrower·May 10, 2021

Breeze Airways is on the verge of reality. The nascent airline is readying its route structure and going through its proving runs with the Federal Aviation Administration. The plan to find a new U.S. home for Azul’s sunsetting E190s predates COVID-19, but David Neeleman finds himself with inexpensive aircraft and a shifting lessor business model made for crisis.