“Fly along with me,” sings Dave Grohl, “I can’t quite make it alone.” We can imagine eVTOL developers singing along to this as they work towards autonomous flight, as so many of the vehicle models will have to commence operations
Legal Flight Deck
The latest market insights, analysis and commentary from the Reed Smith aviation team
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Distressed Assets: JOLs and JOLCOs
As a result of the COVID pandemic, with the resulting payment defaults amongst several airlines , the past few years have seen a surge in interest in distressed debt opportunities within the aviation sector. One particular area which has seen…
Hop to it: Vertiports as an asset class
Hop to it: Vertiports as an asset class
The sums invested in the development of electric vertical take-off and landing (‘eVTOL’) aircraft have been well publicised. It seems that not a week goes by without a new partnership announcement, a…
Flying into the future of global air freight
As the global economy becomes more interconnected, aviation takes on an increasingly central role in our collective economic growth. The aviation industry supports 65 million jobs and enables the best part of $3 trillion in global GDP annually. If aviation…
Unruly passengers are on the rise
Unruly passenger numbers have been on the rise, with many of these incidents related to compliance with COVID-19 mask-related regulations. There are concerns of further issues during the holiday period with Omicron on the rise and an increase in travel…
Supporting the African aviation market to recovery
As with the rest of the world, the Covid-19 pandemic has not been kind to African aviation industry stakeholders. To paint a broad picture of market performance, the African Airlines Association’s (AFRAA) recent report noted a 50% drop in capacity…
FAA and Homeland Security issue warnings as unruly passenger incidents increase
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), those who are fully vaccinated with an FDA-authorized vaccine or a vaccine authorized for emergency use by the World Health Organization can now travel safely within the U.S. Face coverings,…
U.S. Court refuses to dismiss indemnity claims against U.S. Government in Kobe Bryant helicopter crash lawsuit
On Monday May 3, 2021, the California federal district court judge handling the Kobe Bryant helicopter crash lawsuit denied the United States Government’s motion to dismiss claims made against it by Island Express Helicopters, Inc.—the helicopter charter company operating the…
Connected Aircraft: modernising technology in the skies
It is still remarkable when you board a flight, after trying to squeeze a few final minutes out of the airport WiFi connection, when you see that your aircraft has its own internet connection. Although the technology to connect an…
Define and conquer: What might the EU Taxonomy mean for aviation?
What is the EU Taxonomy?
Essentially, this is an attempt to identify certain economic activities that qualify as ‘environmentally sustainable’ in order encourage investment in those activities.…