A former Aviation Week reporter’s new book details the story behind the stories.

While “digitalization” might mean different things to different people, we can all agree that digitalization is the process of taking paper-based information and processes and converting them into computer-based processes. It’s that simple – but you gain a competitive advantage through automating and transforming your business in the process.

SpaceShipTwo Unity glided to a landing at 9:32 am on July 11 after successfully providing a six-member crew, including Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson, a few minutes of weightlessness in space. 

A timeline of events leading to the first fully crewed rocket-powered flight test, which Virgin Galactic calls the beginning of a new space age.

As aerospace recovers, are brutal price squeezes on suppliers easing up? Do suppliers have more leverage? Will vertical integration of the supply base speed up or slow down as bankruptcies and consolidation wipe out many? Supply chain guru Kevin Michaels joins Aviation Week editors to discuss what has changed -- and what’s next. 

 Facing the prospect of losing marquee customer American Airlines to Airbus, Boeing announced on July 20, 2011 that it would reengine the 737 instead of developing all-new successor later in the decade. American, which had long been an all-Boeing customer, split a record-setting order for 460 narrowbodies between the re-engined A320neo and the 737 – but only after Boeing agreed to launch the MAX. “Lacking the means but not the desire, Boeing is setting aside the creation of its first advanced single-aisle transport of the 21st century in favor of a more conservative new engine 737,” reported Aviation Week’s Michael Mecham and Guy Norris. The American order was a coup for Airbus that would have huge ramifications. A decade later, the A320neo holds a commanding and likely long-lasting lead in the narrowbody market as the 737 MAX program recovers from two crashes and a 20-month grounding by the FAA.

 

Continuing a tradition that dates back to 1957, Aviation Week editors have announced their selection of the 2021 Laureate Award winners.

Superconducting electric propulsion; hydrogen ground handling; fuel-cell regional; hydrogen infrastructure; controlling complex aircraft.

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