Two teams led by Boeing Research & Technology have completed 18-month studies on that question and have submitted their findings to NASA under a program called N+3, which denotes three generations beyond the current transport fleet. After examining various subsonic and supersonic concepts, the teams have come up with potential configurations that may offer dramatic improvements in operational and environmental performance over the aircraft of today to meet aggressive goals set by NASA. This Boeing report can be accessed at:  http://www.boeing.com/Features/2010/06/corp_envision_06_14_10.html

A recent conference entitled “Aviation Security against Terrorist Threats”, was initiated by the Cyprus Presidency of the EU to increase the awareness on the importance of aviation security against terrorist threats. The Conclusions that were drafted and presented at the Council of Ministers have been published as draft Council Conclusions on aviation security.  These Conclusions can be accessed at:  http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/12/st17/st17008.en12.pdf

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) may soon receive the authority to skip the rescreening of checked luggage for travelers flying to the United States through certain international airports. The House passed the Senate version of the bill, the No-Hassle Flying Act of 2012 (S. 3452), introduced by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), to empower TSA to determine whether to rescreen luggage that already underwent screening at a departure airport. The bill text can be accessed at:http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112s3542enr/pdf/BILLS-112s3542enr.pdf

Security is both a feeling and a reality, and the two are different things. People can feel secure when they’re actually not, and they can be secure even when they believe otherwise. This discord explains much of what passes for our national discourse on security policy. Security measures often are nothing more than security theater, making people feel safer.  We include a review of a new book on this subject entitled “Against Security: How we go wrong at Airports, Subways and other sites of ambiguous danger", by Harvev Moloch, Princeton University Press  http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9840.html

Israeli tourism industry and foreign airlines operating to Israel are reacting angrily to news that Israel has put off signing an "open skies" aviation pact with the European Union. The agreement, which would give unfettered landing rights in Israel and Europe to airlines from either origin, was to be signed in Brussels this week, but Transportation Minister, backed out. Israeli officials said the delay came because of a reluctance to make major decisions prior to next month's elections. An article in the Haaretz daily newspaper can be accessed at: http://www.haaretz.com/business/cheaper-airfares-put-on-hold-as-israeli-election-looms.premium-1.485035