PT Lion Mentari Airlines served notice that it intends to be the dominant player in the Indonesian market with an order for up to 60 737s. The order was expected to be signed yesterday in Washington during Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's visit to the US. The airline earlier signed an MOU for 40 737s, which prompted a counteroffer from Airbus (ATWOnline, March 1).

Boeing and Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise finalized a previously announced sale agreement for 20 CFM56-7B-powered 737s, plus purchase rights for 20 additional aircraft. The order, which was first announced in March (ATWOnline, March 23), is valued at $1.1 billion at list prices. Deliveries are expected to begin in late 2006 and extend through 2009. Boeing said the 737-800 is the baseline model SALE has specified but the agreement provides for conversions to the 737-700 or the proposed higher-capacity 737-900X.

Barco said its cockpit display solutions have performed "excellently" during flight testing of the upgraded An-124-100M-150. Barco's 6x8-in. smart displays were built into the aircraft's cockpit by Russian system integrator Kotlin-Novator.

Boeing in conjunction with ILFC delivered Air Austral's third leased 777-200ER. The carrier currently operates two 777-200ERs and leased the additional aircraft to meet increased passenger traffic on its routes from St. Denis to Paris and Marseille.

A380, which completed its ninth test flight over the weekend, has exceeded its fuel burn goals, Airbus sources told ATWOnline. While coy on confirming the results, a spokesperson told this website that the aircraft is having a near-perfect flight test program. During the flights, some of which have lasted 8 hr., the A380 has been flown to an altitude of 43,000 ft. and at speeds up to Mach 0.89.