Variable-area fan nozzles on the latest high-bypass engines could increase fuel efficiency and reduce airport noise. Pratt & Whitney is introducing the concept on its PW1100G for the Airbus A320NEO. but not on smaller versions of the geared turbofan. Current engines have fixed-area fan nozzles, designed as a compromise between climb and cruise. But the exit area needs to be larger for takeoff and smaller for cruise, so a variable nozzle optimizes the fan flow for each flight condition.

A Pinnacle Airlines contract with its pilots, if ratified in mid-January, will provide Delta Air Lines with its path to reducing the number of 50-seat jets operated by its regional airline partners to 125 or fewer. Doing so could reduce its maintenance costs.

One day in the distant future, air traffic will certainly stop growing. The current annual growth rate of 5% per year cannot be sustained forever. If it were, the world's population would eventually spend more time in the air than on the ground.

Primes find they must share intellectual property with suppliers.

The final report on the May 9, 2012, crash of a Sukhoi Superjet 100 prototype on a demonstration flight near Jakarta, Indonesia, highlights a growing trend in fatal airline accidents: the reemergence of controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) as a major contributor to airline fatalities. “[The Superjet accident] is in keeping with the rising trend in CFIT accidents over the past two years,” says Jim Burin, director of technical programs at the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF). “We had hoped we were getting rid of them.”

Lawmakers are constantly caught between balancing the needs of the federal government while staying true to the voters at home. Such is the case in this year's fight to maintain the Air National Guard (ANG) and Reserve, which lends a hand to the active duty military while also standing ready to serve all 50 states. Congress balked at the Air Force's initial proposal to cut 287 aircraft and 11,600 personnel, ordering a freeze on retiring or transferring aircraft.

A year-end deadline for the Air Force and Navy to disclose the target initial operational capability (IOC) dates for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was extended until June 1, 2013, in the last days of congressional conference negotiations over the 2013 defense budget. Programs are considered to have reached the benchmark once they complete initial operational test and evaluation.

European Union law does allow “public interventions” for airlines when they are made on terms that a private investor operating under normal market conditions would accept. When the “private investor” principle is not respected, (e.g. shareholders refuse to inject more funds), the support by public authorities constitutes state aid because the beneficiary receives an economic advantage that its competitors do not.