Aerospace

Some airlines in Europe, now bolstered by hefty state aid packages, are trying to assess how their businesses will fare after the crisis.

Engine-makers prepare for a harsh new reality amid precipitous declines in demand for new powerplants and shrinking aftermarket services.

The U.S. Air Force has expanded its interest in emerging electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft to encompass vehicles able to carry one-two people or more than 500 lb. of cargo.

Patrick Cusk to President of Commsoft, UK.

SAFRAN secured €5.4b revenues in 1Q20 vs €5.8b in 1Q19: Aerospace Propusion revenues dropped 9.9% with delivery of 326 (54 CFM56s/272 LEAPs) engines

BOEING is projecting an acceleration of aircraft retirements coming out of COVID-19 crisis, enahncing new aircraft deliveries.

VELO3D raised additional $28m funding from new investors Piva and TNSC and existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Playground, and Khosla

Martin Nüsseler to Chief Technology Officer of Deutsche Regional Aircraft (DRA), Germany.

BOEING COMMERCIAL AIRPLANES reported drop in operating margins to -33% in 1Q20 due to lower deliveries, $797m of abnormal production costs from

US BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS is estimating that US GDP decreased at an annual rate of 4.8% in 1Q20.

BOEING announced plan to cut employment by about 10% companywide through voluntary layoffs (VLO), natural turnover and involuntary layoffs as

AIRBUS posted €481m net loss for 1Q20 (vs €40m net profit in 1Q19) on 15% lower consolidated revenues; Airbus (commercial aircraft) revenues dropped

BOEING posted $641m net loss for 1Q20 (vs $2.1b net profit in 1Q19) on 26% lower revenues (48% lower Commercial Airplane revenues). It is reducing 787

Manufacturers of high-altitude pseudo-satellites (HAPS)–stratospheric balloons and unmanned aircraft–are touting a multibillion-dollar market opportunity in telecommunications, Earth observation and weather prediction.

Fielding a technology that can expand the use of additive manufacturing in parts production, startup Velo3D has secured $28 million in Series D funding, taking total financing raised so far to $138 million.

North Carolina seeks to use FAA pilot projects against the coronavirus.

BOMBARDIER plans May 11 to restart aviation/train production in Canada with gradual return-to-work of 11,000 employees.

PPG says year-over-year aerospace coatings sales volumes were down 1-5% in 1Q20 as volumes were higher in January and February, but declined in March

CRANE AEROSPACE & ELECTRONICS earned $44m on $193m sales in 1Q20 vs $45m on $195m in 1Q19; it has $548m backlog.

For all those who believe that things come in threes, there now is the third failed mergers and acquisition (M&A) deal attributable to COVID-19 in April alone.

The U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has awarded Maxar Technologies $20 million in contracts for land-cover classification and change-detection services.

BOEING SOUTH CAROLINA plans to resume 787 production on May 3; it was suspended on April 8 due to COVID-19 crisis.

Verizon portfolio company Skyward has added a “Live Flights” feature to its aviation management platform that enables users to monitor drone flights in near real time from their offices or wherever they have internet connectivity.

AIRBUS is warning of more severe production cuts beyond the approximate 33% cut (to 40 A320 Family aircraft, two A330s and six A350s per month)

France has begun the first phase of developing an unmanned aircraft systems traffic management architecture called “Hubspace” that it plans to deploy by 2023 to manage drone traffic nationwide.