The Professor’s Minute Minute – June 20, 2025

 

Tonight’s edition navigates aviation, eVTOL, travel safety, and aerospace mergers—tight, relevant, and unexpected.

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1. VietJet Doubles Down on Airbus

VietJet is expanding its Airbus narrowbody fleet at the Paris Air Show, signaling robust post-pandemic growth in Southeast Asia—even as prices and passenger volumes reach new heights. So much for that big Max order

🔗 Aviation Week

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2. Aura Aero Taxis into Hybrid-Electric Flight

French startup Aura Aero has begun wind-tunnel testing on its ERA hybrid-electric regional airliner prototype—a promising green pivot that shows promise, though market entry remains years away. Pretty significant orders. Good enough for production?

🔗 Aerospace Testing Int’l

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3. Eve Estimates 3 Billion eVTOL Rides—But Does It Make Sense?

Eve says its system could log 3 billion eVTOL trips over 20 years. But analysts point out that’s just 150K flights per day globally—tiny in the scale of airline travel, and far below the sky-high investment needed. What say you?

Tiny ride, giant billboards? Time will tell.

🔗 PaxEx

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4. RTX & Safran Just Grew an Oligopoly

The DOJ gave a green light to RTX’s $1.5B acquisition of Pratt & Whitney’s commercial aftermarket—just after Safran, Boeing, and Collins inked similar deals. Engines, literally, are now in very few hands.

Your next engine splits from three birds, not two.

🔗 Law360

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5. Women Don’t Feel Safe When Traveling

A study reveals 76 % of women don’t feel completely safe traveling alone, citing harassment and lack of infrastructure. The industry’s “leave no one behind” moment is overdue.

Adventure shouldn’t require courage beyond travel footprints.

🔗 AOL

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6. RIP BABS: BA Goes Full on to Nevio—Wise or Retro?

Following its disappointing Bob Nevio platform roll-out, British Airways is reverting to the older Nevio reservation engine. It’s a retreat to reliability—or a sign that innovation just gets too messy, too fast.

When new tech fizzles, old code feels safe.

🔗 [Internal BA IT analysis, industry reports]

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