Author: FlyMarshall Newsroom

Few airliners symbolize both bold ambition and the turning tides of aviation like the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and its successor, the McDonnell Douglas MD-11. Superficially, they share a trijet layout: two wing engines and a tail engine. But beneath that lie dramatic differences in design, systems, and operational destiny. In our article, you’ll trace the lineage from Douglas to McDonnell Douglas, explore each aircraft in depth, compare them side by side, and look at their current status — including why trijets all but vanished completely. The Douglas Legacy & The Rise Of The Trijet Credit: Wikimedia Commons McDonnell Douglas’s story begins…

Alongside the arrival of Belgium’s first F-35A Lightning II fighters at Florennes Air Base, the Belgian government has signed a new agreement with Pratt & Whitney, the RTX subsidiary that manufactures the F135 engine powering the aircraft. The agreement, announced on October 13, 2025, during the F-35 delivery ceremony, will expand Belgium’s role in the global F-35 industrial network by enabling local production of key engine components. Under the new deal, Safran Aero Boosters will establish manufacturing capabilities for selected F135 components at its facility in Milmort, near Liège. The agreement also consolidates a long-standing partnership with BMT Aerospace, based…

Subscription Required By Scott Hamilton Oct. 13, 2025, © Leeham News: As the commercial airliner industry sprints to the end of this year, Boeing remains the champion in the widebody, twin-aisle sector with a commanding lead over Airbus. Figure 1 But the European manufacturer is the blow-out victor in the more important narrowbody, single-aisle sector where between 80% and 85% of the sales are made. Boeing has 59% of the widebody backlog to Airbus’ 41%. These are the only two companies competing in this sector. In the more crowded single-aisle 125-240 seat sector, Airbus has a 54% market share to…

By Defense News Oct 13, 2025, 01:24 PMsource

For quite some time, Air Serbia has been hinting at wanting to expand its long haul service. The airline has now announced its first new transatlantic route in quite some time, and the route chosen shouldn’t come as a surprise. Air Serbia will fly to Toronto, Canada, with Airbus A330s As of May 23, 2026, Air Serbia plans to launch twice weekly nonstop flights between Belgrade (BEG) and Toronto (YYZ). Interestingly, the service will be seasonal, running through late September 2026. Flights are expected to go on sale as of Thursday, October 16, 2025, at which point we’ll learn the…

Boeing’s beleaguered next-generation widebody program is stalling out again. In recent months, the outlook slid from a hopeful debut date in mid-2026, to the end of 2026. But now Bloomberg has reported that the first 777X delivery has been pushed out to 2027. source

US startup Electra has selected Evolito engines to power its ultra-short takeoff and landing (STOL) hybrid-electric passenger aircraft.  On October 13, 2025, the two companies announced that Evolito will supply the electric propulsion units (EPUs) which will allow Electra’s E9 aircraft to take off and land within just 45 meters.  Eight Evolito engines, which have been designed for aerospace-grade reliability and efficiency, will be mounted across the front of the wing, providing power to eight propellers.  “Our production contract with Evolito is a significant step forward for our vision for Direct Aviation—safe, quiet, and affordable air mobility that connects communities…

Saudia’s fleet currently consists of 166 aircraft. It has 43 Boeing 777-200Fs/200ERs/300ERs, 37 Airbus A320ceos, 34 A330-300s, 27 A321ceos/neos, 21 787-9s/787-10s, and four 747-400Fs. Air Atlanta Europe operates some 777s and all the 747s on its behalf. These findings are from the latest ch-aviation data. Of the 166 aircraft, 158 are passenger-configured. Of these, 64 (41%) are narrowbodies. Given the low proportion of single-aisle equipment, it is not surprising that Saudia’s schedule submission to Cirium Diio shows that its average seats per flight is a relatively high 225. With just 110 seats, one configuration of the A320 sticks out like…

Lufthansa Technik engineers in Germany are nearing the completion of an ambitious project to rebuild and put on display a vintage Lockheed L-1649A Starliner propliner. The project, which has been in planning for 18 years, will eventually see the fully restored airliner put on display at a new Lufthansa Visitor’s Center being completed in Frankfurt for early 2026. As reported by AIN, in the mid-2000s, parent company Lufthansa Group’s Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin-Stiftung (DLBS) historic flight foundation decided to add a Lockheed 1649A Starliner to its fleet of museum pieces, which included the former Lufthansa Junkers Ju-52 registered as D-AQUI. In…

U.S. aerospace giant Boeing and Italian firm Leonardo are uniting to offer a contractor-owned, contractor-operated solution for the U.S. Army as the service embarks on an effort to revamp its flight school, the companies announced Monday at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference in Washington.The two aerospace leaders are going to submit an offering to the Army’s Flight School Next program aimed at creating a more flexible and scalable approach to rotary-wing training focused on going back to the basics — particularly using a single-engine helicopter.The Army continues to experience catastrophic aviation accidents as it launches a major…