David Russell has joined Gogo, Itaska, Ill., as senior VP and general manager of Europe and the Middle East for commercial aviation. He was VP-strategic programs for SITA Group.

An article on 747-8 certification in the Jan. 23/30 issue (p. 12) misidentifies the Boeing 747-8 variant with range of 4,390 nm. That aircraft is the 747-8 Freighter.

Alcoa is counter-attacking the rising use of composites in aircraft structures. The global aluminum giant will invest more than $90 million to build a new plant in Lafayette, Ind., capable of churning out 20,000 metric tons a year of advanced alloys that it says will allow airframers to build lighter and lower-weight aircraft. Production is slated to begin in 2014. The company also will expand output of the patented third-generation aluminum-lithium alloys at facilities in western Pennsylvania and the U.K.

EADS Chief Executive Louis Gallois recently was asked to reflect on his legacy as he prepares to step down, but the self-effacing aerospace chief took a pass. It is too early, he said, to render a verdict on his impact on the sprawling enterprise he has led since 2007.

It may seem a stretch to look for similarities between a C-17 or 737 assembly line and a satellite factory. The atmosphere in the two places is so different—literally. Airplane hangar doors are opened when it gets hot and machinists wear T-shirts and jeans. A satellite factory's temperatures are carefully controlled and particulate contamination is a big deal, so assemblers wear hair nets and “bunny suits” over their street clothes.

Rolls-Royce is a brand that it synonymous with Britain, but from 2012 on, half of the engine-maker's Trent engine production capacity will be in Singapore. The manufacturer has built an assembly plant, a wide-chord hollow titanium fan-blade factory, and a training center and research laboratory at Singapore's Seletar Aerospace Park. It is the company's first such fan-blade factory outside Britain and its first engine assembly plant outside Europe.

Deals for mergers and acquisitions in global aerospace and defense hit a new high in 2011, reaching $43.7 billion, according to a new study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

The high profile Airbus has given the A380 magnifies any of its problems in the public eye. The mega-transport's latest setback, cracks in a wing component that must be repaired in much of the fleet worldwide, may end up as little more than a footnote, however. Airbus has put in place changes to its A380 wing assembly process to address the occurrence of component cracks as it becomes apparent that most A380s already built require fixes to deal with the issue.