The U.S. Air Force has completed the first flight of an aircraft using alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) biofuel on June 28, flying a Fairchild A-10 from Eglin AFB, Fla., “without any issues.” Fuel for the test flight was supplied by Gevo, which was awarded a potential $600,000 contract last year to provide up to 11,000 gal. of ATJ. Gevo uses a fermentation process to convert plant sugars and other biomass to isobutanol, which is further processed to produce a drop-in replacement for JP-8 jet fuel.

The most recent new aircraft programs at Airbus and Boeing have incurred years of delays and substantial additional costs. As the CSeries production has now started, Bombardier Aerospace is trying its utmost to avoid the same fate. Its priorities in the ramp-up to first flight are testing and early risk mitigation.

Even as Airbus and Boeing worry over how to ramp up their single-aisle production rates to meet record demand, when Boeing looks ahead 20 years, it sees the single-aisle market cooling off a bit in relation to demand for the larger, long-haul twin-aisle jets. In the latest version of its annual 20-year forecast, Boeing sees demand for 34,000 new aircraft valued at $4.5 trillion through 2031. Passenger growth is expected to average 5%, while airfreight will be slightly higher, at 5.2%, even though the cargo market has been weak for the past year.

As U.S. Air Force Lockheed Martin C-130s resumed attacks on wildfires in Colorado and Wyoming, the first fatal crash for the USAF in 40 years of supporting the U.S. Forest Service brought the danger inherent in the aerial firefighting mission into sharp focus.

Autonomy—the ability of automated systems to make their own decisions—is essential if the manpower demands of unmanned aircraft are to be minimized. But autonomy means behavior that cannot be predefined and programmed, anathema to certification authorities wanting guarantees a vehicle will always perform as designed.

There are many things that composites take away from aerospace—weight, corrosion, part count, manufacturing complexity—and many that they give, such as stiff, strong structures that open the door to innovative, easier-to-maintain designs. Boeing has been the big leader in composite airframes, but in propulsion, GE Aviation has been out front. With its own innovations, Snecma, its partner in the CFM International engine alliance, has joined GE in that leadership role.

When International Airlines Group (IAG) was formed by the merger of British Airways and Iberia, CEO Willie Walsh announced a grand list of acquisition targets. Only a year and several iterations of the European banking crisis later, part of IAG is now up for grabs.

The Indian government faces a dilemma over whether to turn beleaguered Air India over to a private entity or allow the relic of state ownership to limp along in its zombie state. Privatization could be the only way to save Air India, says Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh. A pilot strike that held the government hostage for two months and bled the already cash-strapped airline of nearly 6 billion rupees ($110 million) finally reached resolution July 4. During the strike, the civil aviation ministry seriously considered divesting Air India.