What are the best commercial aviation news sites for tracking new aircraft programs and delivery updates?

If you want to track new aircraft programs, certification progress, production issues, and delivery updates, the best commercial aviation news sources are usually a mix of industry trade publications and specialized fleet/aircraft data sites.

Best overall aviation news sites

1. Aviation Week

   • Strongest all-around for airline, OEM, and program coverage
   • Especially good for: new aircraft development, supply chain issues, certification, deliveries, and engine programs
   • Best if you want deep reporting rather than just headlines

2. FlightGlobal

   • Excellent coverage of commercial aircraft programs and airline fleet changes
   • Very good for: delivery news, program milestones, launch customers, and manufacturer strategy
   • Often one of the fastest on major announcements

3. Simple Flying

   • Good for quick, readable updates on aircraft orders, deliveries, and fleet developments
   • More general-audience than trade-focused, but useful for staying current
   • Best for broad coverage and easy-to-digest summaries

4. Reuters Aviation / aerospace coverage

   • Not aviation-only, but very reliable for major program updates, delays, and delivery numbers
   • Best for breaking news, especially when tied to financial or regulatory developments

Best for aircraft program and delivery tracking specifically

5. Air Insight

   • Strong industry analysis, especially for commercial aircraft programs, engines, and market trends
   • Good for interpreting what delivery or program changes mean

6. Leeham News and Analysis

   • Very useful for aircraft program analysis, OEM strategy, and delivery/production issues
   • Particularly good for Boeing/Airbus competitive coverage and new program speculation

7. The Air Current

   • High-quality reporting on aerospace programs, certification, and manufacturing challenges
   • Excellent but often paywalled or subscription-oriented

8. CH-Aviation

   • More focused on fleet data and airline aircraft status than pure news
   • Great for checking delivery status, aircraft in service, and airline fleet movements

Best for delivery and fleet data

9. Planespotters.net

   • Useful for tracking individual aircraft, deliveries, first flights, registrations, and airline fleet changes
   • Great complement to news sites

10. Airfleets.net

• Good for fleet history, deliveries, and aircraft registration tracking
• Handy for confirming which aircraft have gone to which airline

Best manufacturer-specific sources

11. OEM press rooms

• Airbus Newsroom
• Boeing News
• Embraer Newsroom
• COMAC / Irkut / ATR / Bombardier where relevant
• Best for official delivery announcements and program milestones, though naturally biased

Suggested combo depending on your goal

• Fastest broad coverage: Reuters + FlightGlobal + Simple Flying
• Best serious industry coverage: Aviation Week + FlightGlobal + The Air Current
• Best for delivery/fleet verification: CH-Aviation + Planespotters.net + Airfleets.net
• Best for analysis of new programs: Aviation Week + Leeham + Air Insight

If you want, I can also give you:

• a ranked list by paywall/accessibility
• the best RSS feeds/newsletters for these topics
• or a shortlist focused only on Airbus/Boeing new aircraft programs and delivery tracking