The United States Federal Aviation Administration published a mandatory airworthiness directive on 14 May 2026 requiring operators of all Airbus A350-900 and A350-1000 aircraft to address an undocumented change in a key maintenance specification that could compromise emergency oxygen delivery during a cabin pressurisation failure. The directive takes effect on 18 June 2026, giving airlines fewer than five weeks to achieve compliance.
In a significant breakthrough for both US-China commercial aviation and Boeing’s strained global order book, President Donald Trump announced on 14 May 2026 that China had agreed to purchase 200 Boeing commercial aircraft. The deal, confirmed by Boeing on 16 May, represents the planemaker’s first major re-entry into the Chinese market in nearly a decade, having been effectively locked out following a combination of the 737 MAX crisis, diplomatic tensions, and successive tariff rounds. With Trump suggesting the order could ultimately rise to 750 aircraft, the agreement stands as one of the more consequential commercial outcomes of his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Continue reading China Orders 200 Boeing Jets in Trump’s Trade Deal
The Federal Aviation Administration has announced eight projects that will be permitted to conduct electric air taxi operations — some as early as summer 2026 — as part of a newly created Integration Pilot Programme spanning 26 US states. The initiative marks the most significant regulatory step yet towards embedding eVTOL aircraft into mainstream commercial aviation.
Continue reading FAA Greenlights Electric Air Taxi Flights in 26 States
A manufacturing process deviation affecting the centre fuselage of several Airbus A321neo variants has prompted the US Federal Aviation Administration to issue a formal airworthiness directive compelling operators to carry out repetitive structural inspections. The directive, published in the Federal Register on 15 April 2026, mirrors a corresponding European Union Aviation Safety Agency order issued a year earlier, underscoring the increasingly coordinated nature of transatlantic aviation regulatory oversight. The aircraft models affected — among the most commercially significant narrowbodies currently in service — are operated by major carriers across North America and beyond.
Continue reading FAA Orders Inspections on Airbus A321neo Fuselage
Boeing’s beleaguered 777X programme took a tentative step forward on 4 February 2026, when the manufacturer confirmed that the first flight of a production-standard aircraft — one built to the exact specification intended for commercial service — had been targeted for April of this year. The announcement, welcomed cautiously by an industry that has grown accustomed to the programme’s repeated setbacks, marked the beginning of what Boeing hopes will be a decisive final push towards FAA type certification and, eventually, entry into commercial service in 2027.
Continue reading Boeing 777X First Flight Targeted for April
A Dassault Falcon 50 business jet carrying Libya’s most senior military leadership crashed on the evening of 23 December 2025, killing all eight people on board, including Lieutenant General Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, Chief of Staff of the Libyan Armed Forces. The aircraft, which had departed Ankara Esenboga International Airport bound for Tripoli, disappeared from radar just 26 minutes after take-off following a rapidly developing electrical emergency that left the crew with insufficient time to return to the airport.
Continue reading Falcon 50 Crash Kills Libya’s Army Chief Near Ankara