Flydubai took delivery of its first 737-800 Monday.

The first A320 assembled outside Europe successfully completed its inaugural flight yesterday, taking off from Tianjin International in the morning and landing safely a little more than 4 hr. later. The aircraft assembled at Airbus Final Assembly Line China was ordered by Dragon Aviation Leasing and is set to be delivered in June to Sichuan Airlines. "This A320 assembled in China unquestionably demonstrated the same quality and performance as those assembled and delivered in Hamburg or Toulouse," Airbus Senior VP-Flight & Integration Tests Fernando Alonso said.

AeroLogic, the joint venture between Lufthansa Cargo and DHL Express, took delivery of the first of eight 777-200Fs last week. A second aircraft is due in July, with the next two scheduled for December delivery. It plans to operate all eight by December 2010 and said it is considering adding more 777Fs over the next two years. The first scheduled flight is set for June 29.

Boeing planned to start the Trent 1000 engines yesterday on its first 787 test aircraft and is finalizing a deal with Qantas to avoid Dreamliner deferrals. ZA001, which spent last week completing its fuel tests along with an APU start, was due to leave the fuel dock Saturday to be moved to the flight line. ZA002, the second flight test aircraft, was rolled out of the paint hangar last week in ANA colors, although ANA's first 787 is slated to be ZA007.

CFM International President and CEO Eric Bachelet told ATWOnline that the Continental Airlines 737-800 that operated a test flight early this year with one of its CFM56-7B engines powered by a biofuel blend including algae oil and jatropha oil performed well and predicted that such blends "will be a significant component of the fuel used" by commercial aviation within 5-7 years (ATWOnline, Jan. 9).

CFM International today will move the first LEAP-X engine core to GE Aviation's testbed at its Evendale, Ohio, facility to begin testing within three weeks as the GE/Snecma joint venture aggressively develops the new-generation powerplant it is marketing to Boeing and Airbus for the eventual successor to the 737 and A320 families.

Ancra International signed a long-term agreement with Israel Aircraft Industries to supply 767-300 and 737-400BDSF Main Deck Cargo Loading Systems as buyer-furnished equipment.

Airbus COO-Customers John Leahy said this week that the manufacturer may ramp up A320 family aircraft production to 40 per month as early as the end of 2010 or early 2011, a signal that the industry has some confidence in an impending economic recovery.