Boeing

U.S. airlines have so far decided not to ground their Boeing 737 Max jets. Will they continue to hold off? Or will they err on the side of caution?

Boeing needs to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.

In three years, Embraer will be able to deliver new regional jets to U.S. airlines that could significantly reduce their fuel bill. But U.S. airlines may not be able to take them because of restrictions in collective bargaining agreements with pilots. It's easy to blame pilots for their stance. But they have leverage. Why shouldn't they use it?

You have to give Qantas some credit for its public relations strategy. It will be at least four years before the airline launches "hub-busting" flights to New York or London from Sydney but the airline already has almost everyone in the airline industry talking about its plans.

Aviation nerds surely will be upset Qantas is retiring its Boeing 747s. The aircraft has been the world's most iconic jet for decades, but times change, and airlines now prefer smaller, more fuel efficient twin-engined jets. Sadly only a few airlines — British Airways, Lufthansa, Korean Air and Air China — seem committed to the aircraft beyond 2020.

More companies are producing airline seats. That's good news for carriers, which have long complained about production delays from existing suppliers. It's not clear how much it matters for consumers. Airlines don't allot much space to each economy seat so there's not a lot of room for innovation.

Once all the aircraft arrive, American will be the largest Dreamliner operator in the western hemisphere, according to Boeing. That's good for customers, considering the aircraft receives the highest customer satisfaction scores of any widebody in American's fleet.

Tag flights — when an airline lands in one international city and then almost immediately takes off for another — are disappearing from aviation as more airlines launch ultra-long-haul nonstops that make the stop unnecessary. But Qantas will probably keep its Los Angeles-New York nonstop for awhile.

Visit Seattle is positioning itself as a broker of innovation, versus a sales conduit for meeting space, by introducing meeting planners nationwide to some of the world's most advanced companies.

Don't let recent news fool you. This is a promising development, but we're still far from a world in which a substantial number of passengers fly on a hybrid-electric plane.