GoJet Airlines took delivery of three of six leased CRJ700s last week. The new Regional, flying as United Express, ordered 10 CRJ700s, four from the airframer and six through GECAS (ATWOnline, June 23). The remaining three GECAS aircraft will be delivered by April.

AirBridge Cargo of Russia, the scheduled cargo airline of Volga-Dnepr Group, ordered two 747-400ER freighters. The aircraft, worth $450 million, will be powered by GE CF6-80C2B5F engines and are scheduled for delivery in October 2007 and February 2008. "The addition of this advanced aircraft to our cargo fleet will allow AirBridge Cargo to take another step in the realization of our ambitious project to develop scheduled cargo flights between Asia and North America via Russia," said Volga-Dnepr VP San Wraight. AirBridge, formed in February 2004, has a fleet of three 747-200s.

Airbus said its third A380 powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines, MSN 2, performed a successful inaugural 3-hr. flight Nov. 3. All systems were checked out and the whole flight envelope was cleared. The aircraft will fly to Hamburg where it will be the first to be fitted with a full cabin.

Royal Air Maroc signed a purchase agreement Nov. 2 in Casablanca finalizing its acquisition of five 787s for $650 million (ATWOnline, Aug. 11). The first aircraft is due to be delivered in October 2008, the airline said in a statement.

Airbus has started testing the A380's range and fuel-burn characteristics, according to COO and Head-A380 Program Charles Champion. Speaking to ATWOnline, Champion said he didn't expect any surprises: "We have already done some tests with MSN 001 but these were done with engines that were not optimized. We are very confident of meeting our guarantees." The fuel burn and payload/range tests will be done with MSN 004, which flew recently (ATWOnline, Oct. 19). Champion added that Airbus found no problems with the flight envelope and no issues with the structural tests.