Japan Airlines 787-8. Courtesy, Boeing The first Japan Airlines (JAL) Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner rolled out of Boeing’s paint hangar in Everett, Wash., Tuesday night. The aircraft will be used for JAL’s new Tokyo Narita-Boston route and will be delivered early next year. According to Boeing, the airplane's livery features the iconic new brand mark on its tail.

Taiwan-based China Airlines (CI) plans to replace its 13 Boeing 747-400s from 2015/16 and will decide by 2013 which aircraft to order. It is considering the 747-8, Airbus A380, 777-300ER and the A350-1000.

Boeing has received type-design approval from the FAA for up to 330-min. extended operations (ETOPS) for its 777 fleet. The new FAA approval allows airlines that operate routes in the south Pacific, over the North Pole, and from Australia to South America and southern Africa to fly the most direct routes. The first airline to purchase the new longer ETOPS option is Air New Zealand (ANZ), which completed the world’s first commercial 240 min. ETOPS flight between Los Angeles, Calif., to Auckland, New Zealand using a 777-300ER.

Virgin Australia ATR 72-600. Courtesy, ATR Singapore-based leasing company Avation PLC has inked a contract for five ATR 72-600s plus eight options in a deal worth over $295 million (including the options). The aircraft, to be delivered in 2013 and 2014, will be operated by Perth-based Skywest Airlines (XR) on a range of routes on behalf of Virgin Australia (VA).

Southwest Airlines (SWA) has placed a firm order for 150 Boeing 737 Max aircraft and 58 Next-Generation 737s.

Boeing said Southwest Airlines' (SWA) commitment announced Tuesday for 208 737s, including 150 of the Max variant re-engined with CFM International Leap-1B powerplants, represented its largest-ever firm order (both in terms of units and value) and provided a major boost to the Max program, for which SWA will serve as the launch customer.

Inmarsat, which is still on track to launch the first Inmarsat-5 satellite in mid-2013 for its Ka-band Global Xpress service, told ATW it intends to initially deploy service over the Indian Ocean covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

UTair (UT) subsidiary UTair Express (UR) will reduce its Tupolev Tu-134 and Antonov An-24 fleet significantly by 2012, when new federal aviation regulations take effect requiring all Russian aircraft to be equipped with a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) and an enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS). The regional carrier, formerly known as KomiInterAvia, will reduce its fleet to from 28 Tu-134s to 6-8, and from 25 An-24s to 15 of the type. UR’s fleet also includes two passenger-version An-26 aircraft.