Asia's LCC battle reaches a new market

787 route withdrawals underscore strains with Boeing

Drag-reduction technology that has been under research for decades is moving toward reality as commercial aircraft developers search for ever-higher fuel efficiency. Aircraft vertical tails are the first target because of the payoff if their size and drag can be reduced, but the techniques being developed could find their way onto other aircraft surfaces.

As Boeing begins work on preliminary design drawings for the 737 MAX ahead of starting detailed design in early 2014, project leaders hint that the recently announced fuel performance improvement over the current 737 variants could be extended further.

Star Alliance members Lufthansa and Turkish clash over rapid expansion

A4A and ALPA can point to small progress elsewhere recently, with the introduction of a bill in the House of Representatives that would block Customs and Border Protection's planned preclearance facility at Abu Dhabi International Airport in the United Arab Emirates. The bill, pushed by Reps. Pat Meehan (R-Penn.) and Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), would direct homeland security officials to assess the impact future preclearance facilities have on U.S. passengers, the economy and security and customs staffing at U.S.

The Accident Investigation Board of Norway (AIBN) says Boeing had been unaware that “significant amounts” of deicing fluid can enter the tail cones of Boeing 737 models and that the airframer plans “to modify all B737s to achieve better protection against the risk of the elevator system freezing solid.”

Boeing engineers repairing the Ethiopian Airlines 787-8 stranded at London Heathrow for five months since it was badly damaged by a fire have replaced a large section of the upper fuselage structure and refitted the tail unit as part of efforts to return the aircraft to service early next year.