Iberia late Friday announced orders and options for up 79 Airbus narrowbodies worth more than $4.5 billion at list prices, although it said it obtained "important discounts." The largest order in the carrier's history, it encompasses 30 firm aircraft--15 A318s, nine A320s and six A321s--and 49 options. Deliveries of the firm aircraft will be in 2006-11. They will replace 19 MD-87s, 13 MD-88s, seven 757s and the oldest A320s. Engine selection was not announced.

As it looks to maintain its impressive growth rate, Ryanair yesterday announced that it placed an order for up to 140 new CFM56-7B-powered 737-800s, comprising 70 firm orders and 70 options. Deliveries of these aircraft will begin in 2008 and continue through 2012. Ryanair said the firm order portion of the deal is valued at $4 billion. Separately, CFM International valued the firm engines at $900 million.

Boeing reached an agreement with Onex Corp. under which Onex will acquire Boeing Commercial Airplane facilities and assets in Wichita, Kan., and Tulsa and McAlester, Okla., for $900 million in cash. Boeing had been studying the sale of the facilities since last year. "This agreement fully supports our strategy to focus Boeing on large-scale systems integration, which is where we are must competitive and can add the most value to our airplanes and services," BCA President and CEO Alan Mulally said.

The stronger-than-expected traffic recovery this year in conjunction with the emergence of a thriving low-fare sector in many parts of the globe has contributed to a healthy restoration of demand for new and used transport aircraft, leading to a reduction in the overall number of stored jets and driving up lease rates for the more popular types, experts say.

Driven by stringent noise targets, the designs of the two engines for the A380 are remarkable not only for the size of their fans in relationship to thrust produced but also for the very shape of the fan blades. No longer straight shafts of metal, these blades swoop and turn with a sinuous grace that looks, well, sort of sexy--or maybe that judgment is just the consequence of staring at too many engines in a full-frontal sort of way.