Australian Transport Safety Bureau pointed to an exploding oxygen cylinder as the likely culprit in last week's Qantas 747-400 decompression and fuselage hole incident (ATWOnline, July 28). ATSB Senior Investigator Neville Blyth told media in Manila, where the aircraft made an emergency landing, that parts of the valve of a missing oxygen cylinder and its handle were found near the 1.5-m. breach in the aircraft's hull. However, the full cylinder itself was missing.

Emirates took delivery of its first A380 in Hamburg yesterday and during the handover ceremony signed a letter of intent to firm options on 30 A350 XWBs and order 30 A330-300s.

Emirates will take delivery of the first of 58 GP7200-powered A380s today in Hamburg before flying it to Dubai Tuesday. The interior design has been a closely guarded secret, but insiders in Dubai have told ATWOnline that there is some "clever use of space" on the upper deck, where first and business classes are located. There is a lounge at the rear of the deck, along with two showers. First commercial flight is scheduled for Aug. 1 to New York JFK.

Boeing announced the multiyear lease of three MD-11 BCFs to Aeroflot Cargo, which already operates four DC-10s, through its Boeing Capital Corp. financing subsidiary. The airline has committed to acquire three more MD-11s for conversion, with redelivery scheduled for next year.

Aviation Partners Boeing said the first blended winglet-equipped 767-300ER flew on July 20. Aircraft belongs to American Airlines and operated a ferry flight from Kansas City to San Bernardino, where it will undergo two months of certification and performance testing. Winglets measure 3.4 m. and were manufactured by GKN Aerospace. US FAA and EASA certification is expected in November with revenue service beginning the following month. APB said it has 130 767-300ER shipset orders from 10 airlines.