Trying to make sense of WTO ruling

This Reuters report tries to make sense of the conflicting claims by the EU and Americans over who won what in the finding issued Friday by the WTO three judge panel. Here is a somewhat different version of… Read More

No immediate effect from WTO ruling

Update, Sept. 6: There is a report out of Germany that the WTO found state loans to Airbus to be acceptable. The conflicting information and enigma goes on. Update, 2:00pm: The New York Times says 70% of the… Read More

Former defense official favors split tanker buy

George Talbot of The Mobile Press-Register has an article about John Lehman, a former defense official in the Reagan administration, favoring a split buy for the KC-X program.

USAF Cadets work on tanker fuel burn reduction, and other things

US Air Force Cadets are designing wing refinements for the aging fleet of Boeing KC-135R tankers to improve fuel efficiency by 8%, reports CleanTechnica.com. Why a bunch of cadets? Perhaps because the US Air Force Academy in Colorado… Read More

EADS Earnings Preview

EADS, parent of Airbus, announces its 2Q09-1H09 earnings July 28. Here are some topics that ought to be covered and questions analysts and reporters should ask:

WTO Countdown

It looks like the long-awaited, and long-overdue decisions on the complaints between the US and Europe over “illegal” subsidies to Airbus and Boeing may finally be about to be issued. The London Times reports that a decision is… Read More

And now a word on the tanker

Let’s take a diversion from Boeing’s Soap Opera over the 787 Line 2 and will-they-stay-or-will-they-go. CNBC has a long piece plus several video clips with Ralph Crosby, the CEO of EADS North America, on the KC-X tanker issue…. Read More

Random Thoughts, July 6

Here is another in our occasional stream of random thoughts. Bill Virgin and Manufacturing Alert Bill Virgin, a former columnist with The Seattle PI, was zapped when the print edition shut down and it became a web-only publication…. Read More

First report on AF447

This BBC story is a good one on the first French analysis of the crash of Air France 447. Most surprising is that the investigators believe the A330-200 was intact when it hit the water in what sounds… Read More

Customers to watch on production trends

Here is a piece we did for Commercial Aviation Online: The debate continues whether production rates on the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families should be reduced. Both manufacturers are in a tug-of-war with their supply chain over… Read More