United's low-fare airline-within-an-airline Ted is planning to expand its fleet by 20% and increase its service from its Denver, Washington Dulles and Chicago hubs to markets in Florida, Mexico and the Caribbean this year, employees were told yesterday. The carrier's fleet of A320s will grow from 47 to 56, but United stressed that this will be achieved by converting nine mainline passenger aircraft to the Ted configuration and not by adding more aircraft. Specific flight increases will be announced at a later date.

Airlines soon may get an inkling as to which radio technology to buy-or not to buy-for their future aircraft. The enlightenment will commence in a meeting room in Montreal next month when technical experts from FAA, NASA and Eurocontrol unveil to a 30-member ICAO aerocommunications panel their top six or so ideas for what type of communications system will make the most economical and functional sense for global interoperability through 2030.

Thirty years ago, Airbus Industrie ran an advertising campaign to educate a doubting industry about its credibility and the virtues of the new A300. "What is it? Who is it? How does it work and where is it going?" the advertisement asked. On Jan. 18, 2005, not one of the nearly 4,500 guests attending the "A380 Reveal" was in the slightest doubt regarding the success of Airbus and what the A380 represents to European industrial collaboration and the airline industry.

It is quite certain that Bill Boeing was not thinking of the 777-200LR when he declared in 1929 that his namesake company's goal was "to let no new improvement in flying and flying equipment pass us." But 76 years later, the emergence of the newest variant of the successful 777 family certainly represents a triumph of aerospace technology and an improvement in "flying equipment."

Indonesia's Lion Air is in the market for 40 737-900s or A320s/A321s, according to insiders. ATWOnline understands that an MOU has been signed with Boeing, although Airbus is making a counteroffer.