Live-fire testing on pressurized single-aisle and widebody aircraft cabins is set to start at the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Test Center in northern Maryland. The work is part of a long-running Army and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program to study locations or designs that will yield the least damage if a bomb found onboard an aircraft detonates.

While Bangkok is one of the world's largest international air hubs, it ranks third behind Singapore and Kuala Lumpur among those serving Southeast Asia. But that may soon change as new regional airlines launch services there. The premier carrier based in Bangkok, Thai Airways International, has focused for many years on long-haul markets to Europe and the U.S., which is reflected in its fleet, largely comprising Airbus A380s, Boeing 747-400s and 777s, along with five Boeing 737-400s.

Boeing has elected to build key elements of the engine nacelle for the 737 MAX at its recently developed 787 assembly line in North Charleston, S.C., as part of a continuing effort to expand its commercial aircraft footprint beyond its home state of Washington. The establishment of Propulsion South Carolina is part of a broader expansion of design engineering and information technology work for North Charleston, in support of the company's pledge to invest $1 billion and create 2,000 jobs there.

For Western aviation equipment manufacturers, setting up joint companies with Avic usually offers lower costs and a boost to sales, thanks to access to the controlled Chinese market. For the Chinese side, partnership has a more fundamental value: It provides access to a business that would otherwise not be accessible at all. But in the latest Sino-Western partnership, aimed at developing and building commercial flight simulators, both sides need each other to make any headway.

After almost 40 years of growth, CFM is heading in new directions

With final ground tests nearing completion in Toulouse, the first Airbus A350 test aircraft appears to be just days away from its first flight, which would initiate a flight-test program that is expected to last about a year. MSN001 was scheduled to perform high-speed taxi tests and high-power engine runs at the end of last week, after the aircraft's Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines had been powered up for the first time June 2.

Outlines new global emissions proposal for 2020 to fend off EU ETS

Emirates wants to expand its network by adding transpacific routes