Skyworld Aviation placed two Saab 340As with Romania's Direct Aero Services. Aircraft will operate on freight contracts and support passenger operations of sister carrier Blue Air.

French BEA opened an investigation into the Nov. 29 Air France A330-200 flight from Rio de Janeiro Galeao to Paris Charles de Gaulle that issued a mayday call after encountering extreme turbulence (ATWOnline, Dec. 2). Analysis of the incident could provide supplementary insight valuable to the inquiry into the loss of Flight AF447, BEA said. The agency also said it will release a second report into that accident on Dec. 17.

Aircastle announced the placement of a second A330-200 with Avianca. Aircraft seats 30 passengers in business class and 222 in economy. Debt financing was arranged and provided by Calyon and supported by a guarantee from Coface, Aircastle said.

United Airlines yesterday announced an order for 50 long-haul aircraft evenly split between the A350-900 and 787, along with purchase rights for 50 of each type, claiming that the "breadth in size and capabilities of the different aircraft models ensure the company has the right aircraft for the right market through the fleet replacement cycle." The order was United's first for new aircraft since 1998. Boeing said the deal was not yet finalized and that it has not added the Dreamliners to its Orders and Deliveries'list.

Copa Airlines announced an order for an additional two 737-800s scheduled for delivery in the second half of 2010. In July, the carrier placed an order for 13 -800s for delivery in 2012-15, plus eight options for 2015-17 delivery (ATWOnline, July 17). It did not say how the new delivery positions became available or whether the two new firm orders represented option conversions.