International airlines saw a huge 13.5 percent fall in cargo traffic in November and a drop of 4.6 percent in passengers as business shrank across the industry, the carriers' grouping IATA said on Tuesday.

Earnings season continued to be a rough ride for Wall Street, with a handful of big-name companies either issuing gloomy outlooks or missing projections altogether.

European aerospace group EADS said on Wednesday it was extending its Power8 restructuring at planemaker Airbus and measures to tackle a weak dollar as it posted weaker-than-expected second quarter profit.

Boeing reported a greater-than-expected 19 percent drop in quarterly profit on Wednesday as it took a charge on a delayed military plane contract and suffered knock-on effects of its troubled 787 Dreamliner program.

Lockheed Martin said on Tuesday quarterly profit rose, as sales of its electronic defense systems and a one-time gain related to a sale of some land offset lower sales for its F-16 fighter jet program.

Honeywell International Friday reported quarterly profit jumped 18 percent, topping expectations, and raised its full-year earnings forecast, citing strong demand for aircraft electronics and environment and security control systems used in large commercial buildings.

Diversified U.S. manufacturer United Technologies said Thursday quarterly profit beat Wall Street forecasts, on solid demand for Otis elevators and fire and security equipment from the commercial construction sector, and boosted its full-year profit outlook.

Protectionism is not good for anybody and could hurt trans-Atlantic relations, the chief executives of EADS and Northrop Grumman told CNBC referring to the largest-ever tanker deal, which last week was reopened by the US department of defense.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday he planned to reopen a $35 billion competition between Boeing and a team of Northrop Grumman and Europe's EADS to build new aerial refueling tankers.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday reopened a bitter $35 billion aerial tanker contest after the selection process that picked Northrop Grumman and EADS over Boeing was found to be flawed.

Alliant Techsystems Inc. , a military contractor and aerospace company, said Wednesday it will supply rockets to the U.S. Air Force under a contract worth as much as $250 million.

President Bush said Thursday he will lift key trade sanctions against North Korea and remove it from the U.S. terrorism blacklist, a remarkable turnaround in policy toward the communist regime he once branded as part of an "axis of evil."

Europe unveiled the A400M military aircraft on Thursday, giving the public a first glimpse of a powerful turboprop plane being built to supply seven NATO countries with urgently needed strategic airlift capacity.

A consortium led by European aerospace group EADS is favorite to win a $1 billion contract to build a border fence shielding Saudi Arabia from Iraq, executives at the Saudi business partner said.

UAL, parent of United Airlines, said Monday it plans to lay off 950 pilots as it prepares to cut domestic capacity to offset soaring fuel prices.