Aviation Week & Space Technology

Extend today’s highway code to the skies or allow vehicles freedom to self-regulate? These are among options for urban unmanned-aircraft traffic control being explored by researchers.

Shark and seal skins, even speed skater’s suits, are inspiring drag-reduction technologies eyed for coating U.S. Air Force transports and tankers to curb jet fuel consumption.

Cathay Pacific has revealed the outlines of its largest restructuring in 20 years, while Malaysia Airlines makes encouraging progress on its more ambitious changes.

Charter operators are embracing the private club concept as way of “democratizing” private aviation.

Combined, the companies will have a system portfolio spanning the entire aircraft.

A small tech company not too long ago, OHB is now set to compete with the bigger satellite OEMs.

Leading aircraft lessor AerCap expects a substantial number of widebody deferrals but argues the market is still strong enough to deal with some turbulence.

President Obama shook up space policy when he took office, and President Trump may be about to do the same.

ESA is planning to outfit the 30-satellite constellation with the same atomic clocks, despite the issues.

First results seem promising from jointly conducted Boeing-Embraer EcoDemonstrator technology test effort using an E170 prototype.

Everyone seems to want to be in on the newly lucrative aircraft financing industry.

Boeing will soon test an air-launched version of the double-range “Harpoon-ER” anti-ship missile in anticipation of U.S. Navy requirements.

United President Scott Kirby is looking to fulfill the airline’s potential with some major organizational moves.

Lockheed Martin X-56A ready return to flight; Aurora LightningStrike vertical-horizontal transition tests; TsAGI ground-effect transport tested; BAE Systems lasers to create atmospheric lenses; U.S. Army tests Hoverbike for rapid resupply.

A lot in Washington is broken these days, but not everything needs to be fixed.

In this week’s Washington Outlook: why industry experience in government helps the Pentagon get a better deal; McCain’s plans to spend big on the military; a burgeoning space rivalry; and the ongoing attempt to block the sale of aircraft to Iran Air.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

American Airlines has promoted Hector Adler to senior vice president of product and service delivery, from vice president of flight service. Jill Surdek will succeed him as vice president of flight service. FlexSys Inc., a provider of wing-morphing technology, has hired David Hornick as president/chief operating officer. Hornick had been with Aurora Flight Sciences.

Here are signposts to follow as the new administration’s choices on defense unfold.

Autonomous systems, terahertz communications, cognitive computing, digitized fabrication—these are the technologies identified as potentially disruptive for aerospace by a panel of experts at AIAA’s SciTech conference.

Upcoming aviation and aerospace industry events and Aviation Week Network events

Eyes may be on the T-X competition, but the international market remains ripe for training aircraft.

Rolls’s settlement emerges as fraud investigators begin to examine the aerospace industry as a whole.

A thumbnail outline of most nation’s plans to replace their trainer aircraft in light of many current trainers approaching retirement.

With its far-aim still set squarely on Mars, Elon Musk’s space company is happy for now to be resuming satellite launches and return landings.