The recent rebranding of EADS into Airbus is a superb example of how to justify a top management decision with some strategic rationale that really does not exist. There was clearly an issue with the EADS brand. The name was poorly recognized internationally, but that problem had less to do with the brand itself than with the underlying dynamics within the group.

Atlantic Airways achieves greater operational reliability and regularity with more accurate RNP

Bombardier's first CSeries flight-test aircraft, FTV1, moved closer to first flight when it emerged from the paint shop at the Mirabel plant near Montreal on Aug. 22, having earlier begun low-speed taxi tests. These followed completion of thrust-reverser and stationary high-power runs of the Pratt & Whitney PW1500G geared turbofans. FTV1 has also completed aircraft-in-the-loop testing during which it was “flown” on the ground in a simulated flight environment to validate systems integration.

Airfreight is showing an uptick in demand, but the market remains weak

Airline mergers and acquisitions sense and nonsense

Failure of joint projects prompts Russia to sell its stake in EADS

Aerospace and defense companies large and small plan to hire in 2013. While much of the hiring will replace workers leaving for retirement or a new opportunity, the numbers also include some all-new jobs and new skills.

As a war-weary nation grapples with how to cut military spending and a dysfunctional Congress allows meat-ax budget cuts to fall on the Defense Department and NASA, one might expect that the U.S. aerospace and defense (A&D) industry's best and brightest talent would be heading for the exits. Indeed, one-in-five A&D professionals under the age of 35 submitted resignations in 2012, up from 12% the year before. The good news: most left to go work for another aerospace company.