Pilatus: New High-Tech Composite Center in Stans
With its striking new “Schwarzhorn” building, Pilatus has officially opened last week an ultra-modern center of advanced composite competence in Stans: effective immediately, the development and production of composite components will be united under one roof for the first time. The new building provides state-of-the-art workplaces for around 300 employees and has been designed to meet the highest standards of sustainability. «Costing 100 million Swiss francs, this building is the most expensive facility we have invested in to date,» says Pilatus CEO Markus Bucher. Composites – also known as fiber-reinforced materials – have been used since over 40 years at Pilatus, but only for non-load-bearing secondary structures such as covers and cowlings. The PC-24 Super Versatile Jet marks a departure from this in that composite materials are now used for primary structural components as well: composite load-bearing control surfaces represent an important technological development in aircraft construction because they are lighter, and therefore contribute to fuel savings. Pilatus plans to expand the use of composites in the future.
RUAG: PC-7 Simulator Ready for the Future
RUAG has successfully completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) of the PC -7 flight simulators for the Swiss Air Force. The simulator design has reached the required maturity to transition to the integration, implementation and verification phase. The modernization ensures that the aircraft and simulator remain at the same technical standard and enable realistic, future -oriented pilot training. Since the project was launched in April 2025, interdisciplinary teams from RUAG have been developing the new simulator architecture. Expertise from the areas of avionics, software development, simulation, systems engineering, and integration and testing flow together here. Crucial to the project’s success is also the close collaboration with Armasuisse as the client, the Swiss Air Force as the end user and Pilatus as the aircraft manufacturer. One of the main challenges is that the simulator is being developed at the same time as the development, integration and certification of the modernized prototype aircraft. To minimize technical risks at an early stage, a development platform (rig) was established right at the start of the project. It enables the gradual integration and verification of hardware and software components and reduces integration risks in the upcoming project phases. With the successful completion of the CDR, the simulator architecture, the interfaces and the technical solutions were approved and now form the foundation for project implementation.
Heart Aerospace Completes First Flight of World’s Largest Electric Aircraft
Heart Aerospace announced the successful first flight of the company’s X1 demonstrator aircraft. Spanning 106 feet (32.3 meters), measuring 76 feet (23,15 meters) nose to tail, and weighing more than 25,000 pounds (11,4 tons) at takeoff, X1 is the largest battery-electric aircraft ever flown. The flight took place on Wednesday, August 12th, 2026, at Heart’s X1 flight-test base at Plattsburgh International Airport in upstate New York. The piloted mission lasted 27 minutes, during which X1 reached an altitude of 1100 feet AGL and its all-electric propulsion system delivered more than one megawatt of power. Powered entirely by batteries, X1 used approximately $5 worth of electricity during its first flight. The flight came amid a sustained surge in global jet fuel prices, which averaged $3.50 per gallon for the week ending August 7, up 63% year over year, highlighting the potential for electric propulsion to deliver structurally lower aircraft operating costs while decoupling airlines from the volatility of global oil markets. With entry into service targeted for 2031, Heart expects the ES-30 to reduce aircraft operating costs by more than 40% compared with legacy regional aircraft. This reduction is driven by lower energy costs, reduced maintenance requirements from simplified electric propulsion and electrified flight systems, and greater aircraft uptime and reliability enabled by an integrated electronics and software architecture.
People: IATA Board Appoints Saadia Zahidi as Director General
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Saadia Zahidi has been appointed by IATA’s Board of Directors to the position of Director General from 1 November 2026. Zahidi will be IATA’s ninth Director General and the first woman appointed to hold the position. She joins IATA from the World Economic Forum (WEF) where she is a Managing Director and Member of the Managing Board. Willie Walsh, IATA’s current Director General, will conclude his duties on 31 July 2026. The IATA Board of Directors has appointed Sandrine Le Borgne, IATA’s Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President for Corporate Services, as Interim Director General for the intervening period.
Saadia Zahidi spent more than two decades at the World Economic Forum, where she served as Managing Director and Member of the Managing Board. She founded and currently heads its Centre for the New Economy and Society. Zahidi holds a BA in Economics from Smith College, an MPhil in International Economics from The Graduate Institute and an MPA from Harvard University. She holds Swiss and Pakistani nationalities.
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