Author: FlyMarshall Newsroom

Airbus will need to deliver over 85 commercial aircraft per month to reach its 2026 annual target, as set out by the company’s CEO Guillaume Faury earlier this year. In February 2026, Faury announced that Airbus was looking to achieve “around 870” deliveries across the year, an increase from the company’s initial ambition of 820 aircraft in 2025. On May 8, 2026, the European planemaker confirmed that it had made 181 deliveries to date, with April 2026 adding a further 67 to the total. To reach 870 deliveries in 2026, Airbus needs to deliver 690 more aircraft before the end…

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary is one of the most outspoken people in the airline industry. He’s also known for almost exclusively promoting positions that help his airline, which is fair enough. So along those lines, here’s the latest example of that… Ryanair wants to ban alcoholic drinks before morning flights Ryanair’s CEO is calling on airports to be banned from serving alcohol to passengers before early morning flights, arguing that this would reduce the number of disruptions onboard aircraft. O’Leary claims that Ryanair is having to divert an average of one flight per day due to poor passenger behavior, and…

South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced on May 7, 2026, that the KF-21 Boramae, the country’s first domestically designed and assembled fighter jet, has met all criteria of its final combat suitability evaluation. This marks the last formal step before the end of the jet’s development phase.  DAPA said the aircraft had been judged “fully combat suitable” after roughly three years of additional testing that followed the provisional combat suitability assessment granted in May 2023. With this new approval, formal system development is set to conclude in June 2026, clearing the KF-21 to be deployed on actual operational…

The B-1B 86-0115, now renamed “Apocalypse II,” returned to service at Dyess AFB after being previously retired in 2021. The U.S. Air Force announced on May 6, 2026, that a regenerated B-1B Lancer bomber has returned to service after a nearly two-year restoration effort that began in July 2024 at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The aircraft is the serial number 86-0115, known as “Rage,” that we wrote about in July 2024 when it was pulled from storage at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona – also known as the “Boneyard.” The bomber rejoined…

ISTANBUL — The Turkish Ministry of National Defense (MND) unveiled details about the Yıldırımhan long-range ballistic missile during the SAHA Expo 2026 defense exhibition here this week.“We have elevated our work to a more advanced level through the technology base we established two years ago within our Ministry of National Defense R&D Center,” Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler said during a press conference on Thursday.“Our Yıldırımhan Long-Range Missile represents a significant technological milestone as Turkey’s first liquid-fueled rocket missile system, capable of hypersonic-speed flight and possessing the country’s longest range,” he added.According to information provided by the MND, the Yıldırımhan…

By Bjorn Fehrm May 8, 2026, ©. Leeham News: We have made a series of articles on the Blended Wing Body (BWB) as a potentially more efficient design for passenger-carrying airliners than the classical Tube-And-Wing (TAW) configuration. In last week’s article, we looked at the passenger experience on the JetZero Z4 and how the emergency escape facilities would be organized. There have been a lot of discussions on how a passenger will feel flying in a main cabin with only wide screens simulating side windows, with natural light coming through skylights in the roof. It’s difficult to say what the…

The first-ever production Boeing 777-9 has taken to the skies from Everett Paine Field (PAE), no doubt much to the delight of launch customer Lufthansa. According to Flightradar24, the production Boeing 777-9 left Everett Paine Field shortly after 20:40 (UTC) on May 7, 2026, on a three-hour flight, reaching an altitude of 39,000 before returning to base. Photos of the bare, green-colored Boeing 777-9, registered currently as BOE128, were captured by @mattcawby from the airport before takeoff. It has been widely known for over a year that Lufthansa was to be Boeing’s 777-9 launch customer, with CEO Kelly Ortberg mentioned…

An Emirates Airbus A380 has been unveiled featuring a giant United Arab Emirates (UAE) flag, in a gesture of unity and strength for the nation. On May 8, 2026, Emirates declared that the new livery forms part of the ‘This Flag Will Always Fly’ campaign, which was launched by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. The Airbus A380, registered A6-EVG, has been painted with the traditional Emirates’ tail colors, but the flag design stretches much further down the fuselage than usual, creating a vivid display. Emitares said that the new livery is…

Swiss aircraft interior specialist Bucher Leichtbau has completed a large-scale refurbishment of galley units operated across the Lufthansa Group’s Airbus A320 and A321 fleet, returning equipment originally delivered in 2011 to service rather than replacing it. The Fällanden-based manufacturer announced on May 5, 2026, that the majority of the units covered by the program have been overhauled at its facilities and are now ready for further operational use. The galleys had spent more than a decade in continuous service on Lufthansa’s narrowbody fleet, which forms the backbone of the carrier’s European short and medium-haul operations and remains central to the…

Long Beach-based Rocket Lab Corporation announced that, in partnership with Raytheon, it has been selected to demonstrate advanced capabilities for the United States Space Force’s Space Based Interceptor program, a central building block of the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile defense architecture.  RTX subsidiary Raytheon is one of 12 companies selected by the US Space Force as prime contractors for the space-based interceptor program. These vendors were awarded other transaction authority agreements, worth up to a combined $3.2 billion, by the Space Force’s Space Systems Command in late 2025 and early 2026, with an initial capability demonstration scheduled for 2028.  Brad Clevenger, President of Rocket Lab USA, framed the program as a “national security priority” that…