The full report, available here, stated that IADA dealers and brokers collectively account for over half of all transactions worldwide. 

How’s the Market Looking?

IADA’s Perspective Survey of over 1,000 members included dealers and brokers for both new and pre-owned aircraft. 

It showed that, with 58 percent of dealers sharing their results from the July-August-September time frame, IADA dealers reported 144 new acquisition agreements in the third quarter of 2024. This is up 4 percent from the second quarter of the year, but up 22 percent year over year compared with the third quarter in 2023.

• READ MORE: Honeywell Forecasts Strong Growth Ahead for Business Aviation

While the number of exclusive retainer agreements stayed relatively steady in Q3 2024 from the prior quarter, reduced-price listings were up 49 aircraft year over year.

“While seemingly significant, the 67 percent increase in reduced-price listings, reported Q3 [year over year], is measured from a relatively small base,” the IADA report said. “As expected, price adjustments are a feature of today’s market as the resetting of value expectations continues after post-pandemic highs experienced in 2021 and 2022.”

Reported activity in Q3 2024 included 373 closed deals and was the highest yet recorded for the third quarter since IADA’s Perspective Survey began in 2020.

“Year to date in 2024, the 993 closed deals reported were up 14 percent in volume compared with year-to-date 2023, an indicator of a healthy level of exchange activity in a counterbalancing marketplace—one in which IADA dealers are the preeminent players,” the report said.

The report stated Q3 2024 ended with 874 year-to-date (YTD) business aircraft transactions under contract, up 24 percent from 704 YTD at the end of the Q3 2023.

David Monacell, IADA accredited dealer at CFS Jets, said in the report that he expects a significant surge in Q4 and intensification after the election.

“Those that wait for ballots to be counted will likely deal with limited inspection locations, watered down pre-buys, and/or post closing conditions in order to transact in 2024,” Monacell said in the IADA report.

Scott Oshman, IADA accredited dealer at Oshman Aviation, said in the report that Q2 and Q3 market conditions and transaction volume have exceeded expectations within the midsize jets, light jets, and turboprop segments.

“Specific to midsize business jets, light business jets, and turboprops, inventory is steadily increasing, but demand and absorption are equalizing the increase in inventory,” Oshman said.

IADA chair Phil Winters said in a news release that while summer months may have been light on sentiment toward business aircraft transactions, most of the dealers and brokers are reporting heightened activity over the past month.

“Although there are more sellers coming to market at a greater rate than buyers, the buyers are absorbing that inventory increase with slightly lower pricing than two years ago,” Winters said. “At the end of the third quarter, we seem to be setting up for an active and healthy fourth quarter of this year.”

Additionally, IADA executive director Wayne Starling said in the release that the insurance marketplace is shifting toward a buyer-driven market, contrasting to earlier trends in 2024.

Days on Market

According to data compiled by AMSTAT, a business aviation market research company, cited in the report, the days on market (DOM) rate for aircraft increased by 55 percent over the past 18 months. This trend has stabilized, however, with the DOM rate undergoing a slight 8 percent increase and staying below the 10-year average.

“IADA members also noted that the anticipated slowdown due to geopolitical tensions and the ongoing election cycle had less impact than expected,” IADA said. “Combined with a recent drop in interest rates, the market is now showing promising signs of renewed activity. Hesitation among buyers due to market uncertainty appears to be diminishing, with IADA members encouraging clients to act swiftly as the fourth-quarter market is expected to accelerate.”

Looking Ahead

The report stated that IADA’s member surveys provide six-month projections for supply, demand, pricing, and dealer willingness to inventory.

Most respondents expect the next six months to show a stable demand and willingness to inventory, except in the large and ultra-long-range jets categories, where projections see both a slight decrease in demand and willingness to inventory.

“A healthy mix of IADA members spanning aircraft financing/leasing, insurance, and sales have reported an increase in business activity in Q3 leading to a more optimistic outlook across the board for the next six months,” the report said. “These experts also believe that buyers have a slightly higher influence on who is driving today’s market while acknowledging that these subtleties can shift based on age, pedigree, and make/model of specific aircraft.”

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The aviation consultant’s modern jet travel platform Virtual Hangar launched its app earlier this summer as an alternative to fractional charter jet ownership and prepaid jet cards. 

While UberJets isn’t affiliated with the roadside transportation app developer Uber Technologies, the concept is similar. Users of the app can rent a private jet and pilot for exceptionally fast service to fly all over North America, with UberJets’ record pickup being 36 minutes.

“We’re a membership-based program,” John Svensen, sales strategist and logistics innovator for UberJets, told FLYING. “UberJets is powered by our Virtual Hangar technology and Virtual Hangar app. What we’re really trying to do is shift away from the traditional model of fractional ownership and prepaid jet cards. We’re an on-demand booking service with the membership account.”

Standard members pay $9,500 a year, plus a one-time initiation fee, and a corporate membership upgrade is also available. Members receive on-demand, real-time access to available aircraft and can pay as they fly, so no extra deposits are required.

Svensen described New York City-headquartered UberJets as the platform for aircraft owners and pilots to register on and offer their services. The company then rapidly mobilizes aircraft based on the specifications of where the individual member is and what they need.

Members requesting a flight through the app ping all UberJets-partnered pilots based within 150 mile radius of aircraft space in both the members’ departing airport and destination. This optimized solution allows members to only pay for the flight they’re taking without having to worry about making an extra stop somewhere.

“If you go from New York to Florida a lot, and the [aircraft] owner has a Citation Excel that goes from New York to Florida a lot, you would be assigned to an operating partner in the northeast or down in Florida where we know this person moves these aircraft well,” Svensen said.

Launching its beta program during the COVID-19 pandemic, UberJets started testing slowly and gathered information on what passengers liked and didn’t like. That also allowed the company to grow into its automation process.

“Now we’ve revamped our new Virtual Hangar app live on the app store,” Svensen said. “You can also book on the web through our website. We have a lot of members who are using this platform now, and it’s really starting to pick up speed as we continue along. Our infrastructure is now fully complete and built. It was built before, and it was working, but now we’re in total automation of everything. I can’t think of anything else in the industry right now that can say they’re a fully automated system for booking.”

UberJets uses AI technology for predictive pricing, something that’s normally challenging to pinpoint a specific number for a company without its own aircraft.

“We are predicting aircraft prices on aircraft that we don’t even have—they’re just in our platform,” Svensen said.

He said that his team was able to predict the pricing of a route from Marco Island, Florida, to Scottsdale, Arizona, down to the exact dollar using this technology.

“Virtual Hangar is a game changer for private jet booking because it’s utilizing efficient aircraft solutions in the most timely manner possible,” Svensen said. “It’s picking these optimized solutions of aircrafts heading in a certain direction and putting passengers on them. It’s a known fact in the industry that roughly 43 percent of the aircraft flying over at any given time are flying with no passengers on them. We’re trying to get rid of that.

“We want the most efficient aircraft solutions [and to] put people on these repositioning flights so we’re not dealing with any round trips.”

The post UberJets Emerges as Fractional Jet Ownership Alternative appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Why Are Rates  Down?

The change in federal interest rates comes after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) met with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in September to address inflation.

The committee’s long-term goals are to achieve higher employment numbers and bring inflation down to 2 percent.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index report shows annual inflation for all items in the U.S. is averaged at 2.4 percent as of September. September, August, and July each saw 0.2 percent inflation increases for all items each month.

In the FOMC meeting, the committee decided to lower the federal funds rate by 0.5 percent to 4.75-5 percent

“The Committee will continue reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and

agency mortgage‑backed securities,” FOMC’s news release on the rate drop stated. “The Committee is strongly committed to supporting maximum employment and returning inflation to its 2 percent objective.”

The next set of FOMC meetings are scheduled for November 7-8.

What Does This Mean for Aircraft Buyers?

Lower interest rates typically means better payment plans on big purchases, aircrafts included.

The 0.5 percent drop can mean hundreds of dollars saved in monthly payments, depending on the amount of an individual’s down payment and the term of their loan.

FLYING Finance’s Aircraft Finance Calculator can be used to determine an affordable payment plan for prospective buyers. This tool allows users to configure their ideal purchase price, loan term, down payment, and adjust for the lowered interest rates to calculate what their monthly payment would be.

For example, a 20-year term for an aircraft purchased for $1 million with a $200,000 (20 percent) down payment at a 6.75 percent interest rate would cost $6,083 per month. These same values at a 7.25 percent interest rate would cost $6,323 instead—$240 more per month.

Additional resources on aircraft purchasing are available at FLYING Finance.

The post Aircraft Affordability Takes Off as Federal Interest Rates Drop appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) has been on strike for 27 days now seeking higher pay, a better savings plan, and more affordable health insurance.

Boeing COO Stephanie Pope said in a message to employees Tuesday that the strike in the Pacific Northwest has deeply affected Boeing’s business, its customers, and its communities.

• READ MORE: FAA Issues Safety Alert for Some Boeing 737 Operators

“We understand that the steps we’re taking to preserve cash affect you and your loved ones,” Pope said. “We do not take these impacts lightly as we take actions and consider next steps.”

She said that Boeing’s leadership team recently concluded a third round of bargaining with a federal mediator, which included two days of negotiations this week.

“Our team bargained in good faith and made new and improved proposals to try to reach a compromise, including increases in take-home pay and retirement,” Pope said. “Unfortunately, the union did not seriously consider our proposals. Instead, the union made non-negotiable demands far in excess of what can be accepted if we are to remain competitive as a business. Given that position, further negotiations do not make sense at this point and our offer has been withdrawn.

• READ MORE: Boeing Halts 737 Production

“This is a disappointing outcome and not one we wanted. We remain committed to finding a resolution and will work with the union when they are ready to bargain an agreement that recognizes our employees and preserves our company’s future,” she added.

Around 33,000 striking workers and their families lost health care coverage last week after the union’s previous contract expired on September 30. The strike has been a bane for Boeing’s business, costing the company an estimated $3.5 billion in September.

Additionally, the strike has brought Boeing 737 jet production to a halt, crippling one of the company’s main revenue builders.

In a statement posted Tuesday by IAM District 751 in Seattle, Washington, IAM said that Boeing refused to propose any wage increases, vacation/sick leave accrual progression, ratification bonus, 401(k) match/SCRC contribution or reinstate workers’ benefit pension.

“By refusing to bargain the offer sent to the media, the company made it harder to reach an agreement,” the IAM statement continued. “Your negotiating committee attempted to address multiple priorities that could have led to an offer we could bring to a vote, but the company wasn’t willing to move in our direction. Through the mediator, Boeing has now withdrawn its September 23 offer.”

The IAM statement said that a survey of the union’s members showed the contract offer wasn’t good enough. It said that the union’s negotiating committee remains ready to continue talks.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AirlineGeeks.com.

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A Fortune report stated that two separate representatives from Boeing confirmed the production stoppage after a Tuesday Bank of America analyst note suggested production of the company’s best-selling jets had come to a “complete halt.”

This comes as 33,000 striking International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) members refused to vote on Boeing’s “final offer” for a contract on Monday. IAM stated that the offer wasn’t negotiated with union representatives and did not go far enough to address members’ concerns.

The strikes are predicted to cause $3.5 billion in revenue losses for Boeing by the end of September. A Bloomberg report analyzing the potential billions in revenue loss this month at the aerospace giant stated that the largest driver of sales is its 737 deliveries.

The company has attempted to cut costs by furloughing workers last week. It is currently unclear how long 737 production will be stopped.

Boeing did not immediately respond to AirlineGeeks’ request for comment.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AirlineGeeks.com.

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Boeing workers walked off the job at midnight on September 12 after more than 94 percent of union members rejected a tentative contract offer by the company.

After joining several picket lines in Washington state and Oregon on Wednesday and Thursday, Bryant told FreightWaves in a phone interview that union members were resolved to achieve fair pay and better benefits.

“The beginning of this week we wanted to visit with many of our members on the picket lines all the way from Everett [Washington], all the way down here to Portland to let them know they have the complete support of their union, the 600,000 active and retired IAM members both in the United States and Canada,” Bryant said. “… [W]hat it’s really about is, they’ve had 10 years of stagnant wages, 10 years where they’ve lost their pension, 10 years of continual increases in their health insurance. … [T]he workers here have just said enough is enough. … We’ve got to get a contract that truly respects us and recognizes the value that we do for the Boeing Company.”

Bryant said support for the strike has been overwhelming.

“We’ve talked to people who have 45 years in this plant, and we’ve talked to people that just started two months ago, and they’re all on the same page,” he said.

Bryant said that while Boeing does offer a 401(k) matching program, most workers can’t contribute to retirement because their wages aren’t high enough.

“They can’t afford both their mortgages, the rent payments, the vehicle payments, the gas, the fuel to get to work, the food to feed them and their families and their other utilities,” he said. “By the time that’s all done, they don’t have enough income to be able to even participate in the 401(k). It’s on Boeing. They’ve got to correct that. What they did 10 years ago with the pension was just ridiculous and uncalled for, but they’ve got to move forward. They’ve got to do something that gives people income security when they retire.”

Bryant blasted Boeing’s announcement of furloughs in response to the strikes.

“If they want to get serious about what they’re spending on executive salaries and if they’re overstaffed, they could have been dealing with that all [along],” he said. “It’s a cheap shot to make it look like they’re blaming the workers out here on strike because it’s their fault. Look, the workers are on strike here. None of Boeing’s problems have anything to do with these workers. In fact, all of the things that are wrong with Boeing right now are all attributed to bad decisions from corporate. … They’re the ones that have made the bad decisions that are putting Boeing in the position that they’re in. And it’s unfortunate that they’re trying to make this look like it’s the union’s fault. It’s just smoke and mirrors.”

Bryant said it will take a fair contract to resolve this strike and that members are resolved to wait as long as necessary to get that.

“I’m absolutely amazed and impressed with the solidarity and the commitment that our members of the Boeing workers have made to improve their situation,” he said. “This isn’t only happening with the Boeing Company. This strike is being followed all across—not just the U.S.—but in Canada also. This is being followed because the same thing that is happening and has happened to these workers here is happening at many different corporations.”

Boeing did not immediately respond to FreightWaves’ request for comment.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on FreightWaves.

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This comes after over 30,000 workers with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) rejected a contract renewal with the company and went on strike last week.

The furloughs were anticipated earlier this week as the aerospace giant attempts to stop the financial bleeding caused by the strike. A Bloomberg Intelligence analysis predicted Monday that Boeing could be out $3.5 billion in cash in the third quarter if the strike continues through September.

• READ MORE: Boeing Freezes Hiring, Considers Furloughs as Strike Could Cost $3.5 Billion

In a memo sent to employees on Wednesday by Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, workers were notified that production was paused across many key programs in the Pacific Northwest due to the strike.

“… [O]ur business faces substantial challenges, and it is important that we take difficult steps to preserve cash and ensure that Boeing is able to successfully recover,” Ortberg said in the memo. “As part of this effort, we are initiating temporary furloughs over the coming days that will impact a large number of U.S.-based executives, managers, and employees.”

• READ MORE: Boeing Machinists Reject New Contract, Go on Strike

Ortberg stated that all benefits will continue for affected employees. The company is planning for selected employees to take one week of furlough every four weeks on a rolling basis for the duration of the strike.

Along with these steps, Ortberg said that he and his leadership team will take pay cuts for as long as the strike lasts. Ortberg is currently one of Washington state’s highest-paid CEOs. The Seattle Times reports his compensation package could reach $22 million in 2025.

He did not specify in the memo how much his pay will be reduced during the strike.

“Most important, we won’t take any actions that inhibit our ability to fully recover in the future,” Ortberg said. “All activities critical to our safety, quality, customer support, and key certification programs will be prioritized and continue, including 787 production.”

The post Boeing to Furlough Workers Amid Ongoing Strike appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Over 30,000 machinists and aerospace workers at the company walked off the job Friday after a large majority rejected a tentative contract. A Bloomberg Intelligence analysis predicted Monday that Boeing could be out $3.5 billion in cash in the third quarter if the strike continues through September.

According to the Bloomberg report, the cash loss could reduce Boeing’s balances to $9 billion—near the minimum for the company. The largest driver of results in sales will be 737 deliveries, which Boeing will have made 78 of for Q3 versus 70 in Q2. The report stated that defense and Global Services are expected to perform similarly to Q2.

Boeing Cuts Costs

Boeing executive vice president and chief financial officer Brian West told employees in an emailed memo that the company would take actions to preserve its cash, including:

• Starting a hiring freeze across Boeing for all levels, and pausing any pay increases associated with internal executive and management promotions.
• Stopping any travel that is not for critical customer, program, regulatory or supply chain activity.
• Suspending nonessential capital expenditures and facilities spending.
• Suspending outside consultant spending and temporarily releasing nonessential contractors.

“… [W]e are planning to make significant reductions in supplier expenditures and will stop issuing the majority of supplier purchase orders on the 737, 767 and 777 programs,” West said in the memo. “We are also considering the difficult step of temporary furloughs for many employees, managers and executives in the coming weeks.”

Which Airlines Will Be Impacted?

Bloomberg Intelligence stated that airlines most affected by Boeing’s strike will be Ryanair, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, and Alaska Airlines. While it’s not in the high-demand season, this is expected to predominantly affect U.S. air travel.

The report stated that the most-affected airlines in the near term appear to be Southwest, Alaska, Aeromexico, and Jin Air of Korea, all of which are expecting two deliveries in the remaining half of September. With vacation season waning in the U.S., Bloomberg estimates a minimized impact from delays.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AirlineGeeks.com.

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The Chamblee, Georgia-based fractional charter jet operator had widespread employee layoffs after entering into an aircraft management services agreement with competitor flyExclusive (NYSE: FLYX) on September 3.

Thursday’s class action was filed by law firm Kwall Barack Nadeau PLLC and attorney Arthur Schofield in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. In their complaint, prosecutors state Volato employed approximately 260. At least 233 of these employees were laid off August 30 after receiving an email notifying them of their termination.

The WARN Act mandates employers with over 100 employees provide a 60-day notice in advance of plant closings or mass layoffs. The complaint alleges that because these employees were let go as part of a plant shutdown or mass layoff, they were entitled to receive such written notice.

On its website, Kwall Barack Nadeau states that Volato’s actions have left the terminated employees without the compensation and benefits they were entitled to, creating financial distress for many. The plaintiffs seek to secure compensation for unpaid wages, accrued holiday pay, accrued vacation pay, accrued sick leave pay, and other benefits lost due to Volato’s failure to provide notice.

“This case is about holding Volato accountable for the harm it has caused its employees,” said Ryan Barack, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, in a statement on the law firm’s website. “Employers are required by law to provide notice before significant layoffs, and Volato’s failure to comply with the WARN Act has had a devastating impact on its workforce.”

Volato’s poor quarterly financials earlier this summer were reminiscent of issues that faced Jet It, another fractional charter jet operator that failed a year prior due in part to supply chain issues that rocked the industry in 2021 and 2022.

Volato did not immediately respond to FLYING’s request for comment.

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The mission to return the spacecraft to Earth concludes a flight test to the International Space Station (ISS) that was unexpectedly extended to three months after Starliner experienced helium leaks and thruster malfunctions on June 6. 

The two astronauts aboard the Starliner—Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams—have since been staying on the ISS alongside the Expedition 71 crew. After weeks of in-space and ground testing, technical interchange meetings, and agency reviews, NASA announced in August that Wilmore and Williams would be returning via the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft next February.

• READ MORE: A Brief History of Astronauts Stuck in Space

A news release from NASA on Friday stated that its Commercial Crew Program requires a spacecraft to fly a crewed test flight to prove the system is ready for regular flights to and from the orbiting laboratory. The goal of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation to and from the ISS and low Earth orbit.

Following Starliner’s return, the agency will review all mission-related data.

Ken Bowersox, the associate administrator for the space operations mission directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., said in the release that he was proud of his team’s work during the flight test and Starliner’s safe return.

“I am extremely proud of the work our collective team put into this entire flight test, and we are pleased to see Starliner’s safe return,” Bowersox said. “Even though it was necessary to return the spacecraft uncrewed, NASA and Boeing learned an incredible amount about Starliner in the most extreme environment possible. NASA looks forward to our continued work with the Boeing team to proceed toward certification of Starliner for crew rotation missions to the space station.”

The flight on June 5 was the first time astronauts launched aboard the Starliner. It was the third orbital flight of the spacecraft, and its second return from the orbiting laboratory. The spacecraft will now ship to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for inspection and processing.

“We are excited to have Starliner home safely,” said Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, in the release. “This was an important test flight for NASA in setting us up for future missions on the Starliner system. There was a lot of valuable learning that will enable our long-term success. I want to commend the entire team for their hard work and dedication over the past three months.”

Bringing Starliner Home

As scheduled, Starliner departed from the ISS at 6:04 p.m. EDT Friday evening. 

The spacecraft’s 59-second deorbit burn went off without a hitch just over five hours later at 11:17 p.m. EDT. Despite initial concerns around the mutch-scrutinized aft-facing thrusters, telemetry visualization on NASA’s broadcast showed they appeared to fire as needed.

The service module separated and performed its disposal burn, and Starliner was then set to reenter the atmosphere and touch down around midnight. 

Live video taken from the ISS and two NASA chase planes showed the craft streaking through the atmosphere for a little under an hour before the ship touched down at White Sands Space Harbor at 12:01 a.m. EDT. Landing and recovery teams followed NASA’s previously published mission timeline plans, and the spacecraft was then on its way to Kennedy Space Center.

Following the mission, NASA hosted a live post-landing press conference to answer questions from journalists. Officials answering questions were Joel Mantalbano, deputy associate administrator for the space operations mission directorate at NASA Headquarters; Steve Stich, Commercial Crew Program manager at NASA Kennedy; and Dana Wiegel, International Space Station manager at NASA Johnson.

Stich said during the conference that Starliner executed a nominal breakout sequence.

“[It’s] the first time we’ve used that to back away from the station,” Stich said. “We backed out to about five meters and then did a series of about 12 burns using the service module 4 jets. After that sequence of maneuvers, we ended up opening at about 22 kilometers per rev away from the space station. All those thrusters did really well through that SEP [Solar Electric Propulsion] sequence, no problems at all. [There were] no fail-offs or any problems at all.”

He further stated that all eight of the Starliner’s forward thrusters and the two aft thrusters worked well during a hot fire.

“We had great performance from the GNC system, the guidance navigation control [and] the Vesta system,” Stich said. “Last fight on OFT2, we had a little bit of trouble with what we call a ‘calibration maneuver’ to really make sure that the attitude is good for this space integrated GPS INS system, and that went really well. We had a deorbit burn that executed on time at 11:17 p.m. central. It was about 130 meters per second, a 58 second burn. It was a really good burn and the service module thrusters performed well for that burn [and] the OMAX performed well.”

During the deorbit burn, Stich stated that the team noticed temperatures being a little higher in the top and starboard “dog houses.” He said that one of the thrusters—S2A2—didn’t fail off but had a little higher temperature than expected.

Stich said that Starliner performed great during entry, but one of the 12 thrusters—an upfiring thruster—did not perform at all during a hot fire before entry. He also said that the SIGI-3 navigation system failed off temporarily during landing. The SIGI-2 also had a couple of hiccups during entry that Stich said his team would be looking into.

What’s Next for NASA and Boeing?

Despite the change in mission plans over the last several months, Mantalbano said he would not describe this test flight as a mission failure.

“I would not call it a successful failure,” Mantalbano said. “We knew going in this was going to be a test mission. We learned a lot. The teams worked together, both the Boeing and the NASA team to understand the systems of the spacecraft and how they operated. The team worked together at White Sands to understand the analysis that was done. On the test mission, things don’t always go as you planned. And so we were prepared. The fact that this vehicle is home, we’re very happy to have the vehicle home. To me, [this was] a success. Clearly we [have] some work to do. The teams will understand that work and move forward.”

When asked if the next flight would be fully certified or another test flight, Stich said that it was too early to say.

“I think we wanna take the steps to go look at all the data,” Stich said. “Certainly our goal is to get to the rotation flight. Our goal all along has been to have one flight a year, one flight from Boeing Starliner, and another flight from SpaceX with Dragon. It’ll take a little time to determine the path forward. But today we saw the vehicle perform really well. We’ve got some things we know we’ve got to go work on, and we’ll go do that and fix those things, and then go fly when we’re ready.”

Stich said that one of the first things NASA will do when the Starliner is taken back to Kennedy Space Center will be analyzing the tracking data relay satellite to the ground from the recorded data onboard.

“With the test flight, we have a number of sensors across the systems that record data,” Stich said. “We’ll want to downlink all that high rate data and take a look at that data. And then it’s a series of analyzing all the data from the entry, the undocking and the deorbit across all the systems on the vehicle to just see if there’s anything that was off nominal. We’ll study the data at a little higher rate. So it will take a couple of weeks to get it back and a week or so to get the data off the spacecraft.

Several journalists present at NASA’s press conference asked why Boeing wasn’t in attendance to answer questions. Mantalbano answered that Boeing deferred to NASA because it represents the mission.

“I will tell you that Boeing has critical work that they do for NASA in the International Space Station Program, the Commercial Crew Program, and the Space Launch Systems Program,” Mantalbano said. “Their work is critical to our success, and we fully expect Boeing to continue all three of those programs.”

When asked again if the relationship between NASA and Boeing had been damaged, Mantalbano reaffirmed his previous statement.

“And I think from a human perspective, all of us feel happy about the successful landing, but then there’s a piece of us, all of us, that we wish it would have been the way we had planned it,” Stich said. “We had planned to have the mission land with Butch and Suni on board. I think there’s, depending on who you are on the team, different emotions associated with that. And I think it’s going to take a little time to work through that. For me, a little bit, and then for everybody else on the Boeing and NASA team.”

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