Sukhoi SuperJet 100's first flight "is imminent," Superjet International CEO Alessandro Franzoni said yesterday at the SpeedNews Commercial Aviation Suppliers Conference in Los Angeles. To date, the 78/98-seat regional jet family has garnered 73 firm orders plus 46 options, the bulk of them from Russian customers (ATWOnline, Feb. 7). But after first flight, the company intends to make a major sales push to win US airline customers.

Delta Air Lines and United Airlines yesterday announced a domestic downsizing to help negotiate rising fuel costs and a slowing US economy, with each carrier planning to ground 15-20 mainline aircraft this year and DL also aiming to slash its workforce by approximately 2,000. UA plans to reduce domestic capacity by an unspecified amount later this year as it grounds 15-20 737-500s, while DL said it will cut domestic capacity by 10% year-over-year in the second half of 2008.

Honeywell was selected by Airbus to provide the FMS and Aircraft Environment Surveillance System for the A350 XWB. Honeywell said the contract would generate more than $1.5 billion in revenue over the life of the program. The AESS, which combines systems traditionally housed in up to eight boxes into two, according to Honeywell, already is certified and operating on delivered A380s and will be enhanced for the A350. It signed a $16.5 billion deal with Airbus last September to provide Air Management Systems and APU technologies for the A350.

Bombardier's proposed CSeries "is our entry into the mainline commercial aircraft business," Gary Scott, president-aircraft services and new commercial aircraft program, said at the SpeedNews Commercial Aviation Suppliers Conference yesterday in Los Angeles.

Neither Airbus nor Boeing will bow to today's record oil prices and consider bringing forward the launch of a more fuel-efficient successor to the A320/737 platforms, which has slipped over the past 12-18 months from a 2015 entry-into-service schedule.