Boeing Co. (BA), facing a federal labor complaint hearing next week over its new 787 Dreamliner assembly line, is already being pressured by politicians and unions interested in work on a subsequent generation of airliners. (more)
GENEVA — The World Trade Organization on Thursday partly upheld an EU complaint against US state support for Boeing, saying that billions of state aid for the aircraft maker amounted to illegal subsidies. (more)
United Continental Holdings Inc. said it voluntarily grounded 96 United Airlines aircraft temporarily Tuesday so that maintenance checks could be completed. (more)
A pilot who turned up so drunk at Heathrow that he didn’t know where he was supposed to fly his transatlantic passenger plane has been jailed for six months. (more)
1.) Obama’s jobs team gets green-washed — “President Barack Obama will name Jeffrey Immelt, General Electric Co.’s chief executive officer, to head his outside panel of economic advisers, replacing former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker,” reports Bloomberg News. “Immelt has sounded many of the administration’s themes: boosting jobs through U.S. exports, ensuring companies can compete with powers like China and India, and jumpstarting a clean-energy economy. Immelt wrote today that he and Obama ‘are committed’ to making the U.S. ‘the most competitive and innovating economy in the world.’” According to Bloomberg, “Immelt is among a group of executives — Boeing Co. CEO Jim McNerney; Motorola Solutions Inc. CEO Greg Brown, and Honeywell International Inc. Chairman David Cote — who have voiced support for Obama policies. The four serve on several of the president’s outside advisory boards”–and all four have made a killing on green jobs subsidies (more)
Have you read Amanda Carey’s fantastic story about CINOs, AKA capitalists in name only? If not, here’s a snippet, and you can read the rest later: (more)
The X-37B robotic spacecraft, which resembles a miniature version of the space shuttle, touched down at Vandenberg Air Force Base early Friday morning, marking the first time an American unmanned vehicle returned from orbit to land on its own. (more)
Replacing the aging fleet of aerial refueling tankers has been an Air Force priority since 2002. That year, Congress approved funding for Boeing to lease up to one-hundred 767s to replace the 50-year-old KC-135 tankers. However, the deal fell apart in the wake of a 2004 bribery scandal that resulted in the convictions of a top Pentagon procurement officer and a senior Boeing official. (more)
VASHON ISLAND, Wash. — Patricia Reid is not in her 70s, an age when many Americans continue to work. She is not even in her 60s. She is just 57. (more)
Five foreign men who say they were kidnapped and tortured by the CIA cannot sue the Boeing Co. subsidiary that helped spirit them away for interrogations because of the risk of secret intelligence matters being exposed at trial, a sharply divided federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. (more)
Following a gloomy year of falling air traffic demand and roiled financial markets, Boeing Co. raised its 20-year industry forecast for new commercial aircraft on Thursday to reflect the recovering global economy. (more)
Washington (CNN) — The failure of General Electric engines on four jet aircraft overseas during the past two years has prompted the National Transportation Safety Board to issue an “urgent” recommendation to increase inspections of the engines on U.S. aircraft. (more)
United Airlines may have been the last major U.S. carrier to order new airplanes, but its passengers would be among the first to experience Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner if the United-Continental merger goes according to plan. (more)
An Air India Express passenger plane crashed in flames after overshooting the runway in the southern city of Mangalore today, killing most of the 166 people on board. (more)
Automobile design has changed drastically over the last half century, and computers have gone from filling entire rooms to fitting neatly in our briefcases. The Boeing 737, however, has changed very little. An MIT team aims to bring aviation into the 21st century with two bold new designs for commercial airliners that could trim fuel use by up to 70 percent while increasing passenger capacity. (more)
Are we finally witnessing the dawn of the “death ray”? (more)
Despite the diplomatically cordial meeting between the US and Chinese leaders and China’s likely decision to modify its currency, political pressure in Congress, and other quarters, for a more aggressive China policy is mounting. Beyond currency manipulation, various other issues continue to generate fierce debate on the increasingly complex and troubled U.S.-China relationship. (more)
Toulouse France-based Airbus Industries originally withdrew from the competition to build America’s next generation of mid-air refueling tankers. While most Americans would like to see competitive bids for military contracts, we had hoped we were rid of this one. (more)
The lapdog congress, tailor to our imperial president, gave him a garment made of health care. Unfortunately, the expensive suit may come apart at the seams and he finds himself needful of new clothing material. So he decided foreign affairs are just the stuff. As a result, and because President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton are leaders and statesmen in name only, American foreign policy is now in shambles on every continent. Why do the incompetents persist? (more)
