Aircraft makers flock to India for parts: Global aerospace manufacturers — including Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Collins Aerospace, and Pratt & Whitney — are increasingly turning to India to source parts and components due to supply chain issues across Western markets, Reuters reports, citing industry insiders.

The trajectory: The Aerospace India Association forecasts that the country will contribute 10% of the global supply chain market within 10 years, reaching an annual value of USD 250 bn by 2033. Airbus and Rolls-Royce both intend on doubling the amount of parts they source from the subcontinent, Reuters reports.

What’s India offering? “India is the best solution to supply chain challenges,” Reuters quotes Huw Morgan, senior vice president for aerospace procurement at Rolls-Royce, as saying at an industry event. “Our engine volumes are growing at around 20% and the traditional supply chains are just not able to support it,” Morgan said. “India is … the best cost market.”

This is no surprise: The global aviation supply chain has been impacted by shortages in spare parts and issues with engine maintenance, with giants like Boeing and Airbus failing to meet annual delivery targets. Boeing was especially hit hard by a six-week-long strike over workers’ wages that delayed deliveries of 737 MAX jets.

Trump goes after FAA employees: The Trump administration began firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) probationary employees on Saturday, and they could be barred from FAA facilities starting Tuesday, CNN reported, citing the head of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists. The employees — who are responsible for air traffic control infrastructure maintenance — have been employed for less than a year, meaning they have less job protection, a loophole President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are leveraging as part of their aim to upend the federal workforce.

Safety concerns? This comes a few weeks after a US Army Black Hawk helicopter with a possibly faulty altimeter collided midair with a passenger jet in Washington DC, killing 67 people, CNN reported. The FAA’s system for delivering essential flight safety alerts to pilots malfunctioned just days after the crash, forcing the agency to depend on a backup system. The incident exposed a lack of air traffic controllers and problems with FAA infrastructure.

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