1.   Boeing became the first plane builder to offer online maintenance information last year, providing aircraft technical drawings and parts lists via a subscriber-only online network.

2.   Bombardier was widely believed to be the most likely candidate to buy Fokker, given its track record for saving plane builders from the brink of collapse.

3.   A previous bailout bill provided liability limits for the airlines, but the new language would also include plane builders, building owners and other involved parties.

4.   A public bidding contest may put even more pressure on plane builders to bid low.

5.   Predicting technological change is hard, and the airlines and plane builders are not good at it.

6.   Plane builders frequently supply parts to other companies that design and assemble aircraft.