Silk Air, Singapore Airlines' regional subsidiary, is planning to issue an RFP next month for replacements for its fleet of 12 A320s. The RFP almost certainly will include 70/90-seat regional jets. According to sources at the carrier, while the A320 is the incumbent fleet type, the 737-800 and dash 900ER will be evaluated. Silk Air selected the A320 in 1998 to replace its fleet of 737-300s.

Kenya Airways continued its strong association with Boeing by becoming the 28th airline to sign up for the 787 with an order for six dash 8s. The 787s will replace the carrier's six 767s, with two to be delivered in 2010 and four in 2011. Kenya Airways carries more than 2 million passengers annually and has the largest network into Africa. It operates a 21-aircraft fleet comprising mostly 737s, 767s and 777s. Boeing said it has 385 orders and commitments for the Dreamliner.

Airbus said it received orders for 52 aircraft in February from two customers. Air China ordered nine A319s and Indian Airlines finalized a previously announced order for 43 A320 family aircraft. In February 2005, Airbus booked orders for five aircraft--three A319s and two A320s. In the first two months of 2006, it sold 71 aircraft compared with 43 in the year-ago period. Boeing booked orders for 26 aircraft in the period Feb. 1-March 1 inclusive (ATWOnline, March 6).

Airbus announced yesterday that production of the A300/A310 family will come to an end in July 2007 with the handover of the last A300-600F currently on order. "It is in Airbus's best business interest to optimize the use of its resources at this time. . .in response to growing demand from our customers for the newer Airbus products like the A321, the A330/A340 family and the new A350 aircraft," President and CEO Gustav Humbert explained in a statement.

Insiders at Boeing suggest that the replacement for the 737 could be a twin-aisle composite aircraft. The company announced last week that it has formed a team headed by Mike Cave, Boeing Commercial Airplanes VP-aircraft programs, to evaluate a new design. Initial research has focused on the 100-200 seat category, but Embraer's 190 and 195 already are strong competitors at the bottom end of that market segment.