Allegiant Travel Co. has inked a purchase agreement with Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) for up to 13 MD-80 aircraft and 12 JT8D-219 spare engines in 2012 and 2013.

Aeroflot (SU) plans to modernize the fleet of its subsidiaries with Airbus A320s and Russian regional aircraft Sukhoi Superjet 100s (SSJ100s), SU CEO Vitaly Savelyev said.

Airbus has confirmed to ATW that it has pushed back entry into service (EIS) of its A350-900 aircraft by six months to the “first half of 2014” owing to the “late availability of some key parts.”

Embraer is dropping plans to enter the 130-160 seat narrowbody market and instead focusing on developing a re-engined variant of its E-jet family that could be ready in 2018, the company announced Thursday.

International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC) entered into a sale-leaseback arrangement with American Airlines (AA) to finance 15 previously ordered Boeing 737-800NextGen aircraft. Two aircraft have been delivered; the rest are scheduled for delivery in 2012.

Caribbean Airlines (BW) took delivery of its first of nine ATR 72-600s, becoming the first operator of the new -600 series in a $200 million contract (ATW Daily News, Feb. 2). The aircraft are configured with 68 seats and will be equipped with inflight entertainment.

Transaero Airlines (UN) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Boeing for four 747-8 Intercontinental aircraft, making it the first customer in Russia, the CIS and Eastern Europe for the passenger version of 747-8.

WheelTug and EL AL Israel Airlines (LY) on Monday announced a Letter of Intent (LOI) under which LY will “obtain a substantial part of the initial production of WheelTug Aircraft Drive Systems for Boeing 737NG aircraft for installation on their own aircraft subject to financial and operational feasibility checks and regulatory approvals.” LY is the launch customer for the system.