On the negative side, aerospace firms like United Technologies could face higher prices on commodities, especially titanium, because Russia is one of the largest producers of the metal. And if natural gas exports were curtailed from Russia to Europe, that too would increase costs for company operations there. “Its economy is mostly a gas station and a mine,” Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with the Teal Group based in Fairfax, Va., said of Russia.

Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace consultant with the Teal Group, also based in Virginia, says no changes should be made to aircraft designs in response to the MH370 case. "The experience of the past few decades shows that bad guys can find a way around technical solutions if they are on a plane, so the most cost-effective use of resources is to keep them off of jets," Aboulafia said. "Authorities need to improve human intelligence with better vetting of flight crews, better sharing of information about passengers, and better safeguards against counterfeit passports, even if they were not a problem with the missing plane," he added.

News that South Korea expects to spend 7.34 trillion won ($6.79 billion) for 40 F-35s is a plus for Lockheed, said Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst with the Virginia-based Teal Group, but the company needs more orders to help drive down the unit cost of the new warplanes. “The risk is that it stays too expensive to order in large quantities, and the lack of large quantities means that it stays too expensive,” he said.

Worldwide sales of military and civilian drones will reach an estimated $89 billion over the next decade, according to the Teal Group, an aerospace research company in Fairfax, Va. The FAA estimates as many as 7,500 small commercial drones will be in use by 2018, assuming the necessary regulations are in place.

“Everybody thinks that whatever Malaysia leases will eventually become the long-term solution because the Air Force will have already invested in infrastructure items like bases, spares and training,” Garwood said.Leasing civil airliners like the Boeing 737 is big business, but in the fighter world, it’s a rare event. Sweden’s Saab is the only top-line combat jet supplier involved in leasing, with existing deals with the Czech Republic and Hungary for the Gripen for several years.Teal Group analyst Richard Aboulafia reckons that Saab’s experience in fighter leasing could give it the edge in Malaysia.“They have planes to spare, they know how to structure this kind of deal and have a good presence in the region,” he said.Neighboring Thailand is operating the Gripen, having purchased 12 of the single-engine combat jets.