Author: FlyMarshall Newsroom

Delta Air Lines ordinarily prides itself in its operational reliability (“the on-time machine”), and beating its peers in terms of on-time percentage and completion factor. However, every so often the airline has a bit of a meltdown, which shows that the airline also has some vulnerabilities. While I wouldn’t call it a “meltdown,” Delta has had a very rough several days, and the root cause of this is fascinating. Delta lagged peers with Northeast storm recovery Over the weekend, we saw a winter storm hit the Northeast, which obviously impacted airline operations. As you’d expect, very bad weather can slow…

Tuesday has seen the Alaska Airlines app and website go temporarily down, which resulted in thousands of passengers being unable to log in and view or book travel plans. The platforms simply displayed a message after entering credentials, asking guests to come back and retry in a few minutes. The airline quickly published a statement first published by the Seattle Times, that it was experiencing issues that limited access to the website and app, and its team was proactively working on a fix. This becomes the fourth time the airline’s IT systems have faced headwinds. ‘Please Retry After A Few…

South African Airways has highlighted that a recent proclamation by the country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa outlines that a corruption probe will not be launched for the wider airline, but a Special Investigative Unit (SIU) is to formally probe the airline’s South African Airways Technical (SAAT) – the airline’s maintenance arm. Proclamation No 303, which was gazetted by the South African Government on December 19, 2025, and analyzed by ch-aviation, amends the SIU investigation that was first authorized in 2020, which had previously seen SAAT excluded from such an inquiry. In March 2025, SAA faced an investigation due to concerns around…

The US Department of Defense has awarded Boeing an $8.6 billion contract to produce 25 F‑15IA fighter jets for Israel, with an option for 25 more. Production will take place at Boeing’s St. Louis, Missouri, facilities and is expected to continue through 2035. This deal falls under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, designed to supply allied nations while supporting the US defense industry capacity. The contract helps ensure continuity on the F‑15 production line amid fluctuating US Air Force orders. The F‑15IA is a customized version of Boeing’s F‑15EX, tailored to Israel’s operational requirements. While the US Air Force…

The Department of Defense did not consistently hold Lockheed Martin accountable for F-35 poor sustainability performance in its 2024 contract, according to a Dec. 19 inspector general audit of the performance.The F-35 Joint Program Office was found to not have adequately overseen contractor performance on the June 2024 air vehicle sustainment contract, resulting in paying Lockheed Martin $1.7 billion by July 1, 2025, without “economic adjustment,” despite a 50% aircraft readiness rate.Although the Full Mission Capable, Mission Capable and Air Vehicle Availability rates did not meet the minimum requirements of the military services, the department still paid more than $1…

Also: Bombardier’s Mach 0.95 Jet, Bristell Upgrade, Leonardo M-346, Happy Holiday! The effort to reunite a plane with its pilot has continued to rise through the ranks, reaching federal levels in a recent letter to the DoT and the Department of the Interior. The agencies are being asked to step in after a Stinson 108 was emergency-landed and held captive on the tribal land in northern Minnesota. The request centers on a 1946 Stinson 108 owned by Darrin Smedsmo which was flying over the Red Lake Indian Reservation toward Bemidji for training when his engine suffered a catastrophic failure, forcing…

Also: Archer Aviation, USDOT’s National AAM Strategy, Rocket Lab Win, Joby Prepares Wisk Aero announced the successful completion of the first flight of its Generation 6 aircraft, a critical step forward in the company’s quest to deliver the first certified, autonomous passenger carrying eVTOL aircraft to market in the U.S. Wisk is the only developer that has designed, built, and flown six generations of eVTOL vehicles. The aircraft performed its initial vertical takeoff, hover, and stabilized flight maneuvers at the company’s flight test facility in Hollister, California. Eve Air Mobility’s uncrewed, full-scale eVTOL engineering prototype has successfully gone airborne, marking…

Dozens of Companies Unveiled Innovative Products Ahead of the 51st SnF Aerospace Expo Kicking off the 51st SUN ‘n FUN Aerospace Expo, we hosted the second annual SnF Innovation Preview to give more than 20 companies just enough time in the spotlight to debut their new planes, products, engines, accessories, and more… In other words… it was a LOT of news, and it’s all still up for your viewing pleasure.

Navigation Reference System (NRS) The NRS is a system of waypoints developed for use within the United States for flight planning and navigation without reference to ground based navigational aids. The NRS waypoints are located in a grid pattern along defined latitude and longitude lines. The initial use of the NRS will be in the high altitude environment. The NRS waypoints are intended for use by aircraft capable of point-to-point navigation.

The Boeing 757-200 has earned a reputation as one of the most versatile narrowbody aircraft ever built. It can fly transcontinental and transatlantic routes, carry a substantial number of passengers, and operate into airports with shorter runways that would challenge larger aircraft. For decades, this combination made the 757-200 a cornerstone of many airline networks, particularly in the United States. Few aircraft have matched its balance of performance, capacity, and operational flexibility. That strength is now colliding with reality. The 757-200 was designed in the 1980s, and while many examples remain in service, the fleet is aging and increasingly costly…