Digital Transformation Initiative Aviation, Travel and Tourism Industry

The Digital Transformation Initiative (DTI) is a project launched by the World Economic Forum in 2015 as part of the System Initiative on Shaping the Future of Digital Economy and Society.

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PartsBase

PartsBase, Inc. operates the world's largest B2B online parts locator service for the aviation, aerospace and defense industries. As of today, our members do over 40,000 part searches a day and PartsBase.com receives over 2.8 million page views a month. Our membership is over 7,500 companies strong and usage spans over 194 different countries and growing.

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Design and Engineering

The Outlook of Aviation Industry’s Next Vision Beyond 2021

Article | January 7, 2022

The pandemic has caused a deeper level of disruption, which brought the aviation industry to a standstill for months. After facing long months of hardship, what vision and steps will be for airline recovery? This is a significant concern. This would now require complete planning over some crucial areas that form the pillars of the aviation industry. It is especially airline businesses that require a novel set of advancements to build operational confidence. As the industry is rebooting, technology is benefiting. Be it robotics, IoT, biometrics, seamless integration, automation, and more will aid businesses and their processes. Therefore, the industry’s next vision is being set according to the evolving changes in the airline industry due to covid-19. It will establish resilience and flexibility for businesses to adapt to changing conditions while improving efficiency. Here are the key considerations that will be seen as airline recovery curbing airline challenges to plan new avenues beyond 2021. Collaboration Collaboration in the aviation business landscape has been the most important consideration after the pandemic affected the industry. Keeping the vision of collaborating with stakeholders and the commercial airline industry to focus on business and customer confidence will restart operations safely. Collaboration in the future will have a better grasp and be more efficient because of better coordination of data sources being introduced currently. Collaboration becomes even more crucial in the coming years, where you will need updated and accurate information about your business operations. This vision will enhance chances of the following aspects as well: Customized Experience Leading to the modifications happening in the industry, you will be able to offer customized services to customers. Advanced integration functionalities will allow forming a contactless and personalized experience to curb the challenges prevailing. Providing transparent and reliable information to customers is one of the critical aspects of airline recovery and rebooting happening now. This is why a customized experience will aid airline businesses more safely in the coming years. Personalization Today, airlines, governments, and stakeholders are developing best practices for the immediate future of business with a greater focus on personalization throughout the service journey. It will help attract potential customers and end the general approach, which the industry was practicing before the pandemic. Monitoring To design a post-pandemic business model, you can look at the types of technological solutions and processes that have already been started and would emerge beyond 2021. It has been envisioned that airline industry analysis, coupled with monitoring, would allow businesses to manage resources more efficiently. In this way, deployment of the technology stack will be more accessible according to the need. This will strive to reduce crowds at airports and, therefore, effective management with the help of predicted monitoring will be in action. Digital Solutions The new normal in the aviation industry, using technology, would continue to ensure physical contact is diminished or might be eliminated in the future. Mandatory digital checks, implementation of digital platforms, contactless services, and information collected through mobile devices are some elements of the new business models. The industry's vision in the coming years is to demonstrate how it can use digital technology for transformation at scale. Advanced Processing System The next, the aviation industry foresees, is utilizing technology for automation, security, identity management, and robotics. Using these, you can develop attractive yet safe experiences for staff as well as customers. The advancing data processing system and management offer a seamless module for companies to handle risks, controls, handling, and tracking. The inclusion of the advanced system at the airport, airline companies will make the process function efficiently. And because of optimized coordination through automated touchpoints, chances of an increase in revenue will be higher and faster than before. Remote Processing The continuous advancement of airline activities will significantly support capacity limitations in the coming years. Because of this, you will have safer processing of data and information without any threats or breaches. The pandemic has put greater focus on the need for such a flexible approach with resilience. Also, it brings urgency to the availability of technology to use while going remote so that you can provide flexibility to your employees to work frictionless. The industry's vision in its plan is to unlock the full benefits of technology to access and initiate global coordination remotely. A Changed Way to do Business Today—Sustainability Companies operating in the airline business are still understanding to survive in the times of COVID-19. Being fast and evolving is the only way they realized to fight against the current situation. The new normal is bringing changes in the airline industry post covid. This will help the industry to get back its wings to forecast and set up its next vision in the future. Therefore, industry stakeholders need to quickly put immediate business restart efforts to focus on sustainable implementations. This will make the future actions of the aviation industry monitor and evaluate effectively well in response to the ongoing pandemic. Also, it would help them be ready to face even harsh circumstances if anytime it approaches. Frequently Asked Questions What are the risks to the aviation industry during COVID-19? The level of risk is on the rise in the COVID-19 situation at present in the aviation industry. It may affect the operation, new business models, management, monitoring, and evaluation more as remote work culture is hyped. What are the main sectors of the airline industry that need improvement? There are limited sectors in aviation. However, the main ones that need improvement are commercial aviation and business aviation. What are the crucial areas of operation in the aviation industry? Flight operations are crucial, including operation control, connectivity, network, data handling, integration, maintenance planning, and software. { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What are the risks to the aviation industry during COVID-19?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "The level of risk is on the rise in the COVID-19 situation at present in the aviation industry. It may affect the operation, new business models, management, monitoring, and evaluation more as remote work culture is hyped." } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What are the main sectors of the airline industry that need improvement?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "There are limited sectors in aviation. However, the main ones that need improvement are commercial aviation and business aviation." } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What are the crucial areas of operation in the aviation industry?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Flight operations are crucial, including operation control, connectivity, network, data handling, integration, maintenance planning, and software." } }] }

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Air Transport

A Carbon-Neutral Fuel for the Aviation Industry?

Article | July 26, 2022

A New System That Aims to Create Carbon-Neutral Aviation Scientists have achieved an amazing breakthrough in the development of carbon-neutral fuel for the aviation industry. An aviation fuel production system that uses water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide has been put into action. Its design was published on July 20th, 2022, in the journal Joule. The dream of achieving carbon-free aviation could become a reality with this development. “We are the first to demonstrate the entire thermochemical process chain from water and CO2 to kerosene in a fully-integrated solar tower system.” - Aldo Steinfeld, Professor, Study Corresponding Author, ETH Zurich The aviation industry accounts for approximately 5% of the global anthropogenic emissions that contribute to global climate change. The industry heavily relies on kerosene, commonly known as jet fuel, a liquid hydrocarbon fuel derived from crude oil. There are no clean options to power commercial flights on a global scale at the moment. Production of Synthetic Kerosene This breakthrough, with the help of solar energy, makes it possible to produce synthetic kerosene from water and carbon dioxide instead of crude oil. The amount of CO2 emitted during kerosene combustion in a jet engine equals what is consumed during its production in the solar plant. It is what makes the fuel carbon neutral, especially if the CO2 in the air is captured and directly used as an ingredient, which could be possible in the near future. As part of the European Union's SUN-to-LIQUID project, Steinfeld and his colleagues put forward a system that uses solar power to generate drop-in fuels—synthetic alternatives to fossil-derived fuels like kerosene and diesel. Solar-produced kerosene is consistent with the current aviation infrastructure for allocation, fuel storage, and use in jet engines. It can also combine with fossil-derived kerosene, according to Steinfeld. High Hopes for the Future Steinfeld and his team began scaling the construction of a solar fuel manufacturing plant at the IMDEA Energy Institute in Spain half a decade ago. The plant has 169 sun-tracking reflective panels that redirect and concentrate solar radiation into a tower-mounted solar reactor. This concentrated solar energy then powers redox reaction cycles in the reactor’s porous ceria structure, which is not absorbed but can be reused. It transforms the water and carbon dioxide into syngas, a customized mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. This syngas is then injected into a gas-to-liquid converter and is finally converted into liquid hydrocarbon fuels such as kerosene and diesel. Steinfeld and his team are working on amping up the reactor’s efficiency from the current 4% to more than 15%.

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Business Aviation

What’s Next for Business Aviation with the Ongoing COVID-19

Article | January 7, 2022

The COVID-19 effect has been tendered on business aviation than commercial aviation. However, it is the operations that reported a surge in demand for business aviation. The demand has been witnessed from new businesses and and those who revamped their operations amid travel restrictions. In 2020, the airline industry experienced a heavy loss of worth USD252 billion, reports IATA. The industry players were at risk, which included accounting with direct economic destruction. Prompted by other risks factors such as restrictions on movements, especially travel limitations due to COVID-19, there is a serious need for the industry to access its operations competently. So here are two crucial questions that took the heat. First, how is the industry going to manage economic uncertainties, travel restrictions, and market instability? And second, how may these affect aviation business conclusions in the coming years? Such considerations may include some crucial aspects. They are changes in valuation methods, revision of future investments with existing liabilities, re-assessment of forecasted fuel consumption, revision of manufacturing, marketing, and others. This blog is aimed at capturing the impact of COVID-19. And how business aviation can proceed to bridge gaps across multiple travel restrictions, both during and after the COVID-19 crisis. To delve into detail, let's go further. The Level of Airline Business Drop and Recovery Globally, the aviation businesses were severely harmed by 80% in 2020. The industry players found it extremely complex to navigate the commitments. Also, their work with collaborations is slated for the same year. Customers seemed uninterested in discussing new business acquisitions due to COVID travel restrictions on business. However, some operators preyed on lower prices and increased demand for aviation services and products. These were mainly in the manufacturing and marketing fields. The reason is some corporate clients easily adapted to the emergence of digital platforms. They switched to zoom calls to replace personal contacts and connections. Michael Walsh, CEO of Aer Mobi, says, “OEMs have now announced a major drop in production capacity. Potential buyers could be from booming sectors financial services and online sales as they may seek to purchase high-profit products. These will be only a few brilliant spots for new aircraft purchases for OEMs.” On the same note, Shaun Quigley, Managing Director, Volantair Air Charter, says “In the time of crisis, the ability is to “pull one’s head in." This is what will happen at least until the final quarter of 2021.” Business aviation in 2021 will hover around 25% to 30% globally, says Jose Rego, Senior Director – Market Intelligence and Strategy, Embraer Executive Jets. The rebound will be sluggish until 2025. While the travel businesses' situation in the pandemic is not up to mark, its believed that digital transformation is viable to conduct airline operations. Such transformation will drive sales eventually following the rise of trending technologies simultaneously. Aviation Business by 2030 A major transformation is promised by an array of powerful new technologies and corporate clients’ pressure. The industry plays that turn this trend to their advantage have the opportunity to redefine, restructure, reform, and reshape their business amid air travel restrictions. So how will the key players of the aviation sector take their businesses forward by 2025 and beyond? Here is the outline of vital forces that the sector will see transforming. Robotics Maintenance Currently, airline operations maintenance accounts for approximately 20% of the operating costs. However, as the pandemic happened, market players and novel inventions are placing big hopes on the intelligent automation of maintenance. For example, Airbus uses two seven-axis robots on the new fourth A320 line in Hamburg to conduct 80% of their business operations, thus improving functional aspects for employees. Intelligent automation is fueled by terabytes of data. The data could be stored and used by businesses to manage operations easily. The addition of robotics and AI in aviation has increased the digitalization shift landscape for established players. From automatic scanning, data mining to improved diagnostics, robotics has a significant role in the future of aviation operations and maintenance. Use of Alternative Sources of Energy The shifting of environmental sentiments has made the aviation industry include greenhouse gases, electrofuels, hydrogen, and even batteries. The industry has set a target of cutting down high energy emitter fuels by half by 2030. Companies like Airbus have impressive plans to develop hydrogen planes in the next 15 years. Even for eleven years, SkyNRG has been known for supplying "advanced waste" biofuels to airlines. These fuels are recycled from industrial waste, cooking oil, agricultural and forestry residues. New technologies from engineering and manufacturing of aerodynamic are going to play a significant role in upcoming airline trends like specialized and improved designs and the use of carbon-efficient biofuels and electric In this case, the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) research found out that around 5.5% of aviation fuel could come from sustainable origins by 2030. Basically, it would be primarily from advanced waste biofuels. Aviation Business: Witnessing Some Hope There is an anticipation that the established aviation businesses will pick up their pace by 2022 amid COVID 19 restrictions. Interestingly, there has been a pick up in air travel (essential air travel) in a specific part of the world. However, in some Asian countries, travel activity is estimated to be less than 40%. But the travel demand is expected to be higher in the years ahead. Aviation business operators expect expanded business with new criteria of sales—digital. They might witness growth due to new prospect acquisitions that have adopted the digital workforce. The businesses expect green shoots of growth in the travel industry. Especially from business travel classes as these are seeking to experience fly again. Business aviation traffic in 2021 highlighted the growing interest from buyers. On this, Jose Rego, Senior Director – Market Intelligence and Strategy, Embraer Executive Jets elaborates, “There may be a peripheral surge in demand from first-time buyers; I expect this to affect fractional sales initially.” Therefore, now IATA estimates that governments globally will provide $160 billion in support, loans, and tax breaks so that airline businesses can cover current costs. Safety is Priority, so is Business The aviation industry acclaims that business aviation might be on track sooner. In this context, the presence of a qualified team and fast-track applications, software, and platforms could help operators to function in a safe and well-maintained way. As the aviation industry continues to plan new air travel rules (essential), aviation business is at an optimum point. Its crucial role in supplies, sales, business development, and essential air travel services has redefined the face of business. Thus, in this way aviation business has paved the way to make a strong comeback in the coming years. Frequently Asked Questions What can future measures due to the pandemic suggest for the aviation industry? Airline businesses must have a robust plan which establishes the core of business aviation. The future is for market leaders. How they will manage roles and responsibilities responding to the crisis. Finally, national authorities will have a crucial role in stimulating demand and fostering the rapid recovery of the airport business. Restoring consumer confidence will be an essential part of this effort. What is the COVID-19 advice for the aviation industry? The global market leaders are actively managing the impact of COVID-19 to ensure aviation safety and to support the industry’s return to normal safety assurance activities. They have put efforts on surveillance approach on every business operation to increase accuracy by introducing technologies. { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What can future measures due to the pandemic suggest for the aviation industry?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Airline businesses must have a robust plan which establishes the core of business aviation. The future is for market leaders. How they will manage roles and responsibilities responding to the crisis. Finally, national authorities will have a crucial role in stimulating demand and fostering the rapid recovery of the airport business. Restoring consumer confidence will be an essential part of this effort." } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What is the COVID-19 advice for the aviation industry?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "The global market leaders are actively managing the impact of COVID-19 to ensure aviation safety and to support the industry’s return to normal safety assurance activities. They have put efforts on surveillance approach on every business operation to increase accuracy by introducing technologies." } }] }

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Business Aviation

Aviation Branding Mistakes that Cost Huge to Businesses Every day and How to Avoid them

Article | September 16, 2021

Failure is beneficial for many reasons. But important is to manage and survive the onslaught of errors. With respect to bold attempts like adopting a new strategy, making judgments about the market, bad publicity, launching new products or services, and more like these often make airline marketers discourage due to a little or huge foul. The list also includes branding. Airline branding mistakes are often seen when businesses try either to aim to re-position in the market or create awareness among customers. If you are making branding mistakes, then remember that a combination of poor communication and ineffective brand planning causes one of the worst branding disasters! Aviation Branding Mistakes of All-Time Branding any airline company is challenging. When bad decisions about branding strategies happen, it costs huge to businesses. And most of the aviation businesses do it habitually. On this note, mistakes could happen in various ways. But some aviation branding mistakes shouldn’t be ignored at all. Mistakes can hurt your business hard. So, let’s highlight the common mistakes that can happen while branding for aviation and how you should avoid them. Implementation of Rigid Strategies Implementation of rigid branding strategies for aviation results in economic slumps Airlines need flexible marketing strategies to control the cost of labor and acquisition in order to balance the brand image. -Lauda, Marketing-In-Chief, Southwest Airlines While any significant shift in airline business strategy, like the pandemic forced, usually takes two to three years to implement. Therefore, you should design branding strategies that could afford the room for adjustments. In addition, those strategies will revive your older market position. Failing to do so could lead your airline company’s image to suffer a massive loss. So, what can you do ahead? Implement unique branding strategies for aviation to strengthen the value of your company. For this, you need to work and pay attention constantly to existing and potential customers you deal with. By understanding their perspective, marketers will be able to bring uniqueness to strategies. Following this process will ease you to adjust and cope up with the current economic condition. Overlooking SEO The entire aviation industry is going digitalized, especially after the pandemic fall. SEO is one of the most significant areas of digital marketing. So, if you do not master SEO, you are lagging behind competitors in branding for aviation. Your target audience/existing audience should never find difficulty in discovering your brand. This is the only rule of conducting tested SEO practices. It is because overlooking SEO means your customers are gone. So, here’s what to do instead. Try to find out what keywords are becoming relevant every day. Keep a watch at what keywords your competitors include to rank their brand name. Check relevant keywords for your brand message. Also, make sure about the trending keywords and how they are being searched. After you have mastered this metric, create branding strategies that are fit for your company. A Disconnect with Audience Failing to connect with an audience is the most significant mistake. Conducting inappropriate research on target audiences makes it hard to know how to connect with them. To understand it, you will have to think creatively and strategically simultaneously. For that, your team should create the best marketing design materials to attract a wide net of customers. What can you do more? While you connect with customers, an innovative perspective on your upcoming plans should be out of the box. Thinking in this way will help to reveal the gaps, problems, and undiscovered opportunities to make your brand better. Also, you will get deep insights about customers by directly reaching out through social media. You can use forums, email campaigns, loyalty programs, and other ways to connect. If you overcome this mistake, you will be able to connect with your potential customers. To have your criteria is essential. And then, you would be surprised to know how enthused some customers will be about a glimpse into the potential future of a product or service they will gain from your company. Becoming too Generic Coming across too generic ideas of branding for aviation will give a bad impression on your airline company. So, what constitutes this aviation branding mistake? Let’s know here • Depending on stock imagery • Forgetting on your core branding elements—for example, using a generic logo • Having a similar brand name as competitors’ • Offering a similar product/service similar as competitors’ • Usage of non-specific/non-industrial terms in marketing materials These points mean that the more generic your brand will showcase, the less unique you appear to the audience. A generic brand reflects being unprofessional, slapdash, or uninteresting. It’s clear—who would want to buy products or services from. What should you do instead? If you can offer a better or different picture of your airline brand, do it, even if you have to raise your budget. Connect a great designer and take full advantage of their experience. Your designer can help with much more than the standards of the branding work. Do some market research for brand promotion/positioning strategies to understand deeper. By doing so, you can leverage the complete value expertise and implement it in your branding techniques. Branding is One-time Action The action of branding in one time only is an old-school industry policy of aviation. Today is the era of digitalization, where still many existing aviation companies are practicing this approach. If your company falls in this category, then hold on and restrict it now. This is the time when your airline company needs a tangible branding suite, humanization approach. It should also include the defined message, value, logo, and other elements. However, the work doesn’t stop with these elements. The fact is, branding is an endless process. So, what do you need to do? You need to work diligently by keeping a very sharp razor focus on every effort associated with the branding process. So that you can continue to carve your company’s position in the market and stand out. Also, this will help your company stand out in customers’ minds. And hence, this will automatically strengthen your brand. Putting Branding Responsibilities on One Department Branding efforts are not only reserved for the marketing department. Instead, it should involve efforts along across departmental actions as well. There could be multi-departmental knowledge that could save you from poor branding. Might your marketing team’s efforts like the design or PR do not necessarily work perfectly. It's also possible that they ideate a similar design repeatedly. And you may be unknowingly making significant aviation branding mistakes. Those mistakes must have damaged the credibility of the strategies and the motive. A lot of companies work for branding only with the marketing team. That is why they lack in many other parts of branding. If you have a similar working process in your company, you need to think again! So, how to go ahead? To create an effective aviation branding, involve the sales, customer service, IT, networking, data analyst department on board. By collaborating with them, you can initiate many efforts to create purposeful solutions for audiences. Even the representatives of each department can involve and create target-proof branding strategies for aviation. Devaluing the importance of social media Devaluing the power of social media has been one of the most common and costly aviation branding mistakes businesses are making. From being active on it to acting on the audience’s activities has a lot of differences in-between. Many companies listen, but they don’t hear. The problem is they don’t show to their audiences. And thus, results in disconnection among audiences. So, what can you do instead? In the current time, the travel market is now more fragmented with the continuous shifting behavior of travelers. In this case, social media’s role is becoming significant. It’s one platform where you can obtain feedback by creating polls, communicating, and engaging with marketing tricks. It's a free and paid platform. You have every reason to take advantage of it to showcase your company and brand message to a wide net of audiences. Doing it regularly—keeping your content relevant and updated- will make your brand image evergreen. Save your Airline Company with Branding Bloopers Now you must have gained some insights on how to avoid branding mistakes. So, it's time to bid farewell to branding mistakes. Remember that consumers, context, and quality design should be at the forefront of your mind when you begin with branding planning. It’s crucial to hone on the right branding strategy because it’s an important way to position your aviation company in the market. The airline business is the biggest team sport in the world. When you are all consumed with fighting among yourselves, your opponents can run over you every day. – By Gordon Bethune Former CEO of Continental Airlines Frequently Asked Questions What are the other airline branding mistakes businesses usually make? Mistakes happen every day in airline businesses. But some common mistakes can cost a huge to a business. Here are some more airline mistakes: • Aviation businesses tend to implement competitors’ tactics that become entirely different from their original business structure or current and future plans of action. • Businesses do not think of investing in an aviation advertising agency. • Usually forgets the purpose behind the brand creation. • Create fake brand values What should airline businesses avoid in brand planning? While creating a brand, the airline businesses should avoid the following things: • Underestimating your customers • Untracking your marketing efforts • Unwilling to invest • Broad targeting • Lack of USP • Lack of research What do airline customers want from airline businesses? Airline customers are broad. They look for a wide array of services and products. So, your customer will always want some basic yet valuable things like committed customer service and satisfaction, easy approachability, content to understand solutions, and easy ways to invest. { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What are the other airline branding mistakes businesses usually make?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Mistakes happen every day in airline businesses. But some common mistakes can cost a huge to a business. Here are some more airline mistakes: Aviation businesses tend to implement competitors’ tactics that become entirely different from their original business structure or current and future plans of action. Businesses do not think of investing in an aviation advertising agency. Usually forgets the purpose behind the brand creation. Create fake brand values" } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What should airline businesses avoid in brand planning?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "While creating a brand, the airline businesses should avoid the following things: Underestimating your customers Untracking your marketing efforts Unwilling to invest Broad targeting Lack of USP Lack of research" } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What do airline customers want from airline businesses?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Airline customers are broad. They look for a wide array of services and products. So, your customer will always want some basic yet valuable things like committed customer service and satisfaction, easy approachability, content to understand solutions, and easy ways to invest." } }] }

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Spotlight

PartsBase

PartsBase, Inc. operates the world's largest B2B online parts locator service for the aviation, aerospace and defense industries. As of today, our members do over 40,000 part searches a day and PartsBase.com receives over 2.8 million page views a month. Our membership is over 7,500 companies strong and usage spans over 194 different countries and growing.

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Defense and Space

FlyersRights.org Litigation Continues After Boeing Settles Civil Case With MAX Crash Victims

Boeing | February 14, 2022

Boeing has settled its civil cases with all but two of the families of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 Boeing 737 MAX crash on March 10, 2019. The ET302 crash, along with the Lion Air Flight 610 crash, just over four months prior, claimed the lives of 357 people. FlyersRights.org, however, continues its litigation, supported by independent safety experts, to compel the FAA to release the MAX fix details and flight testing. The FAA, at Boeing's behest, has kept secret all data related to the MAX under a claim of trade secrets, notwithstanding Boeing's and the FAA's multiple promises of full transparency. Boeing has admitted liability for compensatory damages caused by the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash, and the victims' families may pursue compensatory damages in Illinois. However, the agreement bars punitive damages, damages that would have punished Boeing for egregious conduct and would deter Boeing and others from such behavior in the future. "This settlement means that the FlyersRights.org litigation against Boeing will be one of the few ways to achieve truth and accountability for the 737 MAX crashes, By avoiding discovery and depositions in these civil cases in addition to having avoided criminal trials and significant fines in its agreements with the federal government, Boeing so far has escaped with merely a slap on the wrist relative to the size of the company and the magnitude of its wrongdoing." -Paul Hudson, President of FlyersRights.org. Notably, Boeing hopes to be able to avoid depositions of CEO David Calhoun, former CEO Dennis Muilenburg, and other employees. Boeing agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice in January 2021, paying $244 million in fines but admitting no guilt.

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Boeing Receives Two Major Missile Contracts Worth $3.1 Billion

Boeing | May 19, 2020

Boeing received two contracts on May 13 covering two variants from the AGM-84 missile family. The larger of the two contracts covers the supply of 650 AGM-84K Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM ER) for the Royal Saudi Air Force, to equip its F-15SA Eagle aircraft. Boeing further developed the AGM-84E SLAM weapon for attacking land targets. Boeing received two contracts on May 13 covering two variants from the AGM-84 missile family. Combined with a related, previously announced order, the contracts have a combined value of $3.1 billion. Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting activity for the orders, which answer the requirements of a number of Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. The larger of the two contracts covers the supply of 650 AGM-84K Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM ER) for the Royal Saudi Air Force, to equip its F-15SA Eagle aircraft. It is the first export order for this variant for some time, the weapons first being supplied to South Korea for carriage by the air force’s F-15K “Slam Eagles”. The $1.97 billion contract also includes funding for non-recurring engineering associated with the SLAM ER. This work is due for completion by the end of 2028. The second contract, valued at $657 million, calls for the delivery of 467 AGM-84L Harpoon Block II Lot 91 anti-ship missiles to a range of FMS customers by the end of 2026. Saudi Arabia is the biggest recipient, slated to receive 402, while Qatar is to get 53, Thailand eight, and Brazil four. The contract also includes support equipment for India, Japan, the Netherlands, and South Korea. What was then McDonnell Douglas delivered the first Harpoon anti-ship missile in 1977, and has delivered more than 7,500 since then to the U.S. and a large number of allies. As well as the AGM-84 air-launched version, the sea-skimming missile comes in RGM-84 ship-launched and UGM-84 submarine-launched forms. Pre-revolutionary Iran was one of the early recipients, and in 1980 it achieved the first combat success of the weapon when RGM-84s sank two Iraqi patrol vessels. The Harpoon has been successively updated and remains the primary anti-ship missile in the West. Boeing further developed the AGM-84E SLAM weapon for attacking land targets, replacing the Harpoon’s active radar seeker with an imaging infrared seeker that transmitted imagery back to an AWW-13 two-way datalink pod on the launch aircraft. A few were fired during the 1991 Gulf War, and it was also used during the Balkans campaign A further adaptation resulted in the AGM-84H SLAM ER, with pop-out wings that extended the range to around 150 miles. It also featured more advanced guidance options, including “man-in-the-loop” direct flying, and automatic target acquisition. It was the world’s first weapon to have this latter function. Further development led to the current AGM-84K version. As well as the procurement of new-build weapons, most of the U.S. Navy's AGM-84E SLAMs were upgraded to SLAM-ER configuration Since 2019 Boeing has been building a new 35,000-square foot manufacturing facility at its St. Charles site in Missouri to cater to increased production rates of AGM-84 versions. The new factory is expected to be ready next year. Learn More: THE BOEING 797 – HERE ARE THE CLUES WE HAVE SO FAR

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Aerospace Industry CTOs Cooperate to Drive the Sustainability of Aviation

Boeing | June 18, 2019

Aviation connects our world by efficiently and rapidly moving people, opening new economic opportunities and transporting food and goods all over our planet. Aviation promotes global understanding, generating rich cultural exchanges and thereby contributing to peaceful co-existence. At the same time, climate change has become a clear concern for our society. Humanity’s impact on the climate requires action on many fronts. The aviation industry is already taking significant action to protect the planet and will continue to do so. Aviation contributes to two percent of human-made carbon dioxide emissions. The industry has challenged itself to reduce net CO2 emissions even while demand for air travel and transport grows significantly.

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Defense and Space

FlyersRights.org Litigation Continues After Boeing Settles Civil Case With MAX Crash Victims

Boeing | February 14, 2022

Boeing has settled its civil cases with all but two of the families of the victims of the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 Boeing 737 MAX crash on March 10, 2019. The ET302 crash, along with the Lion Air Flight 610 crash, just over four months prior, claimed the lives of 357 people. FlyersRights.org, however, continues its litigation, supported by independent safety experts, to compel the FAA to release the MAX fix details and flight testing. The FAA, at Boeing's behest, has kept secret all data related to the MAX under a claim of trade secrets, notwithstanding Boeing's and the FAA's multiple promises of full transparency. Boeing has admitted liability for compensatory damages caused by the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash, and the victims' families may pursue compensatory damages in Illinois. However, the agreement bars punitive damages, damages that would have punished Boeing for egregious conduct and would deter Boeing and others from such behavior in the future. "This settlement means that the FlyersRights.org litigation against Boeing will be one of the few ways to achieve truth and accountability for the 737 MAX crashes, By avoiding discovery and depositions in these civil cases in addition to having avoided criminal trials and significant fines in its agreements with the federal government, Boeing so far has escaped with merely a slap on the wrist relative to the size of the company and the magnitude of its wrongdoing." -Paul Hudson, President of FlyersRights.org. Notably, Boeing hopes to be able to avoid depositions of CEO David Calhoun, former CEO Dennis Muilenburg, and other employees. Boeing agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice in January 2021, paying $244 million in fines but admitting no guilt.

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Boeing Receives Two Major Missile Contracts Worth $3.1 Billion

Boeing | May 19, 2020

Boeing received two contracts on May 13 covering two variants from the AGM-84 missile family. The larger of the two contracts covers the supply of 650 AGM-84K Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM ER) for the Royal Saudi Air Force, to equip its F-15SA Eagle aircraft. Boeing further developed the AGM-84E SLAM weapon for attacking land targets. Boeing received two contracts on May 13 covering two variants from the AGM-84 missile family. Combined with a related, previously announced order, the contracts have a combined value of $3.1 billion. Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting activity for the orders, which answer the requirements of a number of Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. The larger of the two contracts covers the supply of 650 AGM-84K Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM ER) for the Royal Saudi Air Force, to equip its F-15SA Eagle aircraft. It is the first export order for this variant for some time, the weapons first being supplied to South Korea for carriage by the air force’s F-15K “Slam Eagles”. The $1.97 billion contract also includes funding for non-recurring engineering associated with the SLAM ER. This work is due for completion by the end of 2028. The second contract, valued at $657 million, calls for the delivery of 467 AGM-84L Harpoon Block II Lot 91 anti-ship missiles to a range of FMS customers by the end of 2026. Saudi Arabia is the biggest recipient, slated to receive 402, while Qatar is to get 53, Thailand eight, and Brazil four. The contract also includes support equipment for India, Japan, the Netherlands, and South Korea. What was then McDonnell Douglas delivered the first Harpoon anti-ship missile in 1977, and has delivered more than 7,500 since then to the U.S. and a large number of allies. As well as the AGM-84 air-launched version, the sea-skimming missile comes in RGM-84 ship-launched and UGM-84 submarine-launched forms. Pre-revolutionary Iran was one of the early recipients, and in 1980 it achieved the first combat success of the weapon when RGM-84s sank two Iraqi patrol vessels. The Harpoon has been successively updated and remains the primary anti-ship missile in the West. Boeing further developed the AGM-84E SLAM weapon for attacking land targets, replacing the Harpoon’s active radar seeker with an imaging infrared seeker that transmitted imagery back to an AWW-13 two-way datalink pod on the launch aircraft. A few were fired during the 1991 Gulf War, and it was also used during the Balkans campaign A further adaptation resulted in the AGM-84H SLAM ER, with pop-out wings that extended the range to around 150 miles. It also featured more advanced guidance options, including “man-in-the-loop” direct flying, and automatic target acquisition. It was the world’s first weapon to have this latter function. Further development led to the current AGM-84K version. As well as the procurement of new-build weapons, most of the U.S. Navy's AGM-84E SLAMs were upgraded to SLAM-ER configuration Since 2019 Boeing has been building a new 35,000-square foot manufacturing facility at its St. Charles site in Missouri to cater to increased production rates of AGM-84 versions. The new factory is expected to be ready next year. Learn More: THE BOEING 797 – HERE ARE THE CLUES WE HAVE SO FAR

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Aerospace Industry CTOs Cooperate to Drive the Sustainability of Aviation

Boeing | June 18, 2019

Aviation connects our world by efficiently and rapidly moving people, opening new economic opportunities and transporting food and goods all over our planet. Aviation promotes global understanding, generating rich cultural exchanges and thereby contributing to peaceful co-existence. At the same time, climate change has become a clear concern for our society. Humanity’s impact on the climate requires action on many fronts. The aviation industry is already taking significant action to protect the planet and will continue to do so. Aviation contributes to two percent of human-made carbon dioxide emissions. The industry has challenged itself to reduce net CO2 emissions even while demand for air travel and transport grows significantly.

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