Technology may take a backseat to customer and training value in the flight simulator of the near future. Though work on potentially breakthrough technologies continues in academia and in the laboratories of simulator manufacturers like CAE, Lockheed Martin, Rockwell Collins and Thales, there is a growing call from the safety and user communities to figure out the optimum use of investments already made and technology already available.

Bob Smith Chief Technology Officer, Honeywell Aerospace Age: 48 Education: Ph.D. in aerospace engineering, University of Texas; advanced degrees in engineering and applied mathematics from Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management.

The jigsaw pieces are coming together for a future “all-electric” commercial airliner by the second half of the 2020s. Seeking higher efficiencies, lower costs and easier maintenance, airframers and equipment manufacturers alike are pushing ahead with development of electrically powered replacements for today's pneumatic, mechanical and hydraulic systems.

But whether the low-cost model will be a success will depend on much more than just airline economics.

Rolls-Royce will be introducing a new maintenance program for Fokker 70s and 100s that promises to reduce the cost of overhauling their Tay engines. Fokker, however, is being a little coy about releasing the details just yet. “Rolls-Royce is working on a dedicated program to reduce the cost of the heavy checks for the Tay engine. More detail than that cannot be provided due to the fact Rolls-Royce first needs to inform our operators,” says a Fokker spokesman.

EU carbon dioxide allowances (EUAs) crashed in November after the system's regulator, the European Commission, proposed a delay to the auctioning of allowances in 2013-15. December 2012 EUAs rallied as high as €9.08 per metric ton ($11.71) ahead of the announcement on Nov. 12, and fell to €6.73 by Nov. 19.

Cost-effective readiness training for fifth-generation fighter aircraft is driving new simulation technologies that will change the way military pilots are trained within five years.

Inflight connectivity provider Gogo says its bandwidth-boosting ATG-4 (air-to-ground-4) upgrade will be installed on approximately 500 airliners by the end of 2013, up from the 40 aircraft equipped today.