CAC Commercial Aircraft Co. on Wednesday in Beijing signed a contract with Airbus to become the sole supplier of A350 XWB spoilers and droop panels, a deal the European manufacturer said completes its pledge to allocate 5% of the next generation aircraft's production to China (ATW Daily News, Nov. 27, 2007).

Airbus said it attached a carbon fiber-reinforced plastic panel, standard in design to a future A350 fuselage panel, to an A340 test aircraft and will measure the structure's performance in flight. The 15 sq.m. structure was fitted in place of an existing A340 aluminium fuselage section on the flight test aircraft. Ensuing flight tests "are part of a three-week campaign to evaluate pressurised CFRP acoustic properties and to help fine-tune sound insulation for the A350 XWB cabin," Airbus said.

Aer Lingus CEO Christoph Mueller confirmed that EI has shelved its low-cost model and will not revert to offering uneconomically low fares to stimulate demand.

Boeing forecasts that airlines in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands will take delivery of 920 new aircraft valued at $120 billion over the next 20 years.

In a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange Friday, Air China said it had agreed to buy four 777-300ERs valued at $1.15 billion to expand its fleet's capacity.