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Four days before SpaceX listed on the Nasdaq in the largest-ever initial public offering, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration quietly changed its safety policy to allow more aircraft to fly through airspace where they are at higher risk of a catastrophic accident due to falling space debris.

The FAA previously allowed no more than a few thousand aircraft per year to transit the outer portions of aircraft hazard areas identified in advance of each launch and re-entry operation — airspace where they face more risk than the agency’s Air Traffic Organization would normally tolerate. By capping this number at 6,412 aircraft per 12-month period, the FAA had maintained 95% confidence that no fatal accident due to falling space debris associated with a launch or re-entry operation would occur in 80 years.

No aircraft were allowed to transit the most hazardous portions of these zones, and that has not changed. But in a June 8 memo, the FAA’s Executive Safety Council removed the rolling limit that previously served as a cornerstone of its acceptable level of risk (ALR) policy, raising questions about whether the odds of a fatal accident will rise as SpaceX and its competitors increase their launch tempo.

Alaska Air Group will likely deploy Boeing 737-800s to take over Hawaiian Airlines’ interisland flying as it looks ahead to phasing out the smaller workhorse jet that’s handled the mission for a quarter-century.

“The default at this point will be 737s. I think it’s the most likely answer to replace the 717s,” said Shane Tackett, newly-appointed Alaska president in a June 6 interview with The Air Current at the International Air Transport Association’s Annual General Meeting in Rio de Janeiro.

The Federal Aviation Administration is poised to award Boston-based Air Space Intelligence (ASI) a closely-watched contract for its AI-powered air traffic management tool, according to multiple people familiar with the selection.

The award would catapult the company, which had just over 150 employees as of April, to the center of a massive nationwide ATC system overhaul. Dubbed SMART, the system has been described by the FAA as a central pillar of its national airspace system (NAS) modernization plan.

When digital services company Jeppesen ForeFlight was spun off from Boeing in November, its new private equity owner Thoma Bravo declared“the original innovators of aviation technology are back in a big way.”

The company has since faced an uphill battle convincing skeptics that this proclamation is true. Its first acts after the transaction closed were straight out of the private-equity playbook: laying off employees and then raising prices for its popular ForeFlight flight planning product. These actions prompted accusations the company was being sucked into private equity’s relentless drive to maximize short-term profits. 

The aircraft, registered N81105, made its delivery flight on May 12 and has been in revenue service flying predominantly to London and Singapore from its San Francisco hub, given its new 222-seat “Elevated” interior that is heavily outfitted with premium seating. The aircraft performed seven production test flights before its handover to United, according to tracking by Flightradar24.