Europe's aerospace industry is making progress in unraveling the complexities of time-based flight profiles, which will be essential components of the next-generation air traffic management network. Long-range ATM plans call for aircraft to fly precise four-dimensional (4D) trajectories, with time being the fourth dimension. While it will be at least six years before 4D procedures could be deployed in the European aviation system, work is underway to advance the concept and address the range of issues that must be solved before its operational debut.

Airbus has reached the most critical phase of early A350 production with the start of final assembly

Manufacturers want to know the regulations before they build a product; regulators want to see a product before they write the rules. That is the Catch-22 facing the integration of unmanned aircraft systems into national airspace.

Foreign airlines are being allowed to lock in loan rates in a new prefunding guarantee program from the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) that grants carriers a greater flexibility to manage their fleet acquisitions.

Can a modular approach make up for shrinking funding?

As a passenger, it's evident that airlines are doing a much better job at managing their capacity. It's rare to find an empty seat next to you. Frequent fliers also know many airlines offer ancillary services—from onboard food to checked baggage—for a fee. New revenue streams are visible. What is invisible to passengers is that airlines also are getting smarter about managing life-cycle costs.

Centaur was conceived for scientific missions, but as the possibilities for optionally piloted aircraft (OPA) technology become more apparent, “we are actively thinking of what the next steps are,” says John Langford, president of Aurora Flight Sciences. In addition to enabling new types of missions that combine unmanned persistence with certified platforms, optional piloting could act as a bridge to the future by helping build trust in flying autonomous aircraft in the national airspace system (NAS).

European Union emission allowance (EUA) prices fell sharply in July on renewed doubts that the system's regulator, the European Commission, would reveal new details on proposals to withhold future supply to prop up prices. EUAs for December 2012 delivery under the EU emissions trading system (ETS) fell to as low as €6.65 per metric ton ($8.19) by the close on July 30, down from €8.36 on July 5, a fall of 20.5%.