AeroTime
• Ian Molyneaux
Boeing has completed the final planned FAA certification flight for the 737 MAX 10, concluding the MAX family’s largest variant flight-test campaign after years of delays. The program totaled 976 flights and about 1,040 hours on the ground/flight-test effort, with safety reviews and FAA approval still required before certification.
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Boeing has completed the final planned FAA certification flight for the 737 MAX 10, concluding the MAX family’s largest variant flight-test campaign after years of delays. The program totaled 976 flights and about 1,040 hours on the ground/flight-test effort, with safety reviews and FAA approval still required before certification.
India plans a major partnership with Safran to develop a next-generation turbofan, framed as a step-change for domestic aerospace sovereignty. Safran will also develop a single next-generation fighter engine and will prioritize French requirements because Franco-German FCAS propulsion funding ends in September.
JetZero has secured a $3 billion preliminary deal from Washington aimed at helping launch production of its blended-wing aircraft—one of the most radical designs since the Concorde. The agreement provides early industrial support for scaling development toward manufacturing.
Chinese operator Xizang Airlines is named as the launch customer for COMAC’s C919 high-altitude variant, with 40 aircraft reportedly on order. The variant has now completed its first test flight from Shanghai Pudong International Airport, marking a key milestone in its development program.
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COMAC has completed the first flight of the C919-600, a shortened, high-altitude C919 family member, in Shanghai. The prototype—developed for operations from airports on the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau—completed its initial planned test maneuvers after departing Shanghai Pudong, where final assembly facilities are located.
At Farnborough International Airshow, neither Airbus nor Boeing unveiled a completely new trajectory, but Boeing returned with a notably large share of total aircraft orders, reinforcing market perceptions of rising trust in Boeing. The cluster also highlights Airbus’ balancing act between shareholder returns and long-horizon clean-sheet aircraft ambitions.
Safran says it has delivered more than 1,000 LEAP powerplants in the first six months as part of its CFM International role. The French aerospace firm has also increased its full-year forecast for LEAP engine deliveries, projecting a “high teens” percentage rise versus last year.
Boeing says GE Aerospace has paused deliveries of the GE9X turbofan for the 777-9 due to a previously disclosed durability issue involving a crack in a mid-seal. Boeing expects GE9X shipments to resume this quarter, targeting October.
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