Southwest Airlines found small, subsurface cracks on two more Boeing 737-300s on Tuesday, bringing the total to five that have been grounded in the aftermath of Friday's midair fuselage skin rupture on Flight 812 (ATW Daily News, April 5).

AVIC's Commercial Aircraft Engine Co. is accelerating the research and development of a domestically produced, second engine option for the 150-seat COMAC C919, according to GM Wang Zhilin.

GECAS delivered two new Boeing 737-800 (-86N) aircraft to Xiamen Airlines, part of an existing order book with Boeing. Zim Flugsitz announced it was selected by Air Berlin to equip its Airbus A330-200 fleet with new ECO-01 economy seats. It will deliver the first shipset in mid-October and then on a schedule of every two weeks. The seats will be equipped with IMS' Rave IFE seatback systems.

Chromalloy, a unit of Sequa Corp., said it is developing a new Technology Center of Excellence in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., "dedicated to the research and development of services for gas turbine engine including repairs, parts and coatings." The company also intends to relocate its corporate headquarters from Orangeburg, N.Y. to the Florida location.

Air Lease Corp. on Monday launched an initial public offering of 25 million shares priced at between $25 and $28 each. It said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects the IPO to raise net proceeds of approximately $622.1 million.

Lufthansa selected Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines to power the 30 A320neo family aircraft it has announced it will order pending contract finalization with Airbus, the third consecutive win for Pratt on the re-engined narrowbody program.

Embraer announced Monday that KLM Cityhopper exercised options for five E-190 jets valued at $214 million based on list prices.

French Air Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA) on Sunday confirmed that the search team on board the vessel Alucia located major assemblies of the Air France Airbus A330 that crashed into the Atlantic while en route between Rio de Janeiro and Paris-Charles de Gaulle on June 1, 2009, killing all 228 passengers and crew on board.