Royal Air Maroc CEO Driss Benhima told a business conference in Casablanca last week that the carrier soon will place an order for six new aircraft. "We will sign the order deal by the end of this month," he was quoted as saying by Reuters, but declined to specify the aircraft type.

CIT Aerospace announced the delivery of a Trent 772B-powered A330-200 to Etihad Airways.

The US National Transportation Safety Board late Wednesday issued an "urgent safety recommendation" calling for Rolls-Royce to "redesign" the Trent 800's fuel/oil heat exchanger to prevent the fuel feed system icing that is believed to have caused both the uncommanded loss of thrust on a Delta Air Lines 777-200ER last November and the dual rollback that led to the January 2008 British Airways -200ER crash landing at London Heathrow.

American Airlines yesterday said that "early speculation" regarding Wednesday's MD-80 JT8D-200 engine failure that led to debris falling on a New York City neighborhood and an emergency landing at New York JFK is that an object was sucked into the engine and damaged fan blades, according to the Associated Press (ATWOnline, March 12).

Air France KLM confirmed it intends to proceed with an order for approximately 100 long-haul aircraft, although the timeline has been changed slightly owing to the present economic environment. "Air France KLM's plan to launch a call for tenders for around 100 Airbus or Boeing medium-capacity long-haul aircraft, initially scheduled for 2008, is being maintained. The order could be placed by the end of the year, or maybe a little later," a spokesperson told ATWOnline. The group has both Airbus and Boeing aircraft in its long-haul fleet.