The US National Transportation Safety Board late Wednesday issued an "urgent safety recommendation" calling for Rolls-Royce to "redesign" the Trent 800's fuel/oil heat exchanger to prevent the fuel feed system icing that is believed to have caused both the uncommanded loss of thrust on a Delta Air Lines 777-200ER last November and the dual rollback that led to the January 2008 British Airways -200ER crash landing at London Heathrow.

American Airlines yesterday said that "early speculation" regarding Wednesday's MD-80 JT8D-200 engine failure that led to debris falling on a New York City neighborhood and an emergency landing at New York JFK is that an object was sucked into the engine and damaged fan blades, according to the Associated Press (ATWOnline, March 12).

Air France KLM confirmed it intends to proceed with an order for approximately 100 long-haul aircraft, although the timeline has been changed slightly owing to the present economic environment. "Air France KLM's plan to launch a call for tenders for around 100 Airbus or Boeing medium-capacity long-haul aircraft, initially scheduled for 2008, is being maintained. The order could be placed by the end of the year, or maybe a little later," a spokesperson told ATWOnline. The group has both Airbus and Boeing aircraft in its long-haul fleet.

A340 production rate has fallen to one aircraft "or perhaps less" per month, Airbus VP-Marketing Andrew Shankland said at this week's SpeedNews Commercial Aviation Industry Suppliers Conference in Los Angeles. "The A340 is pretty much built to order," he explained, while noting it has "found a niche as a VIP airplane." He attributed slow sales to higher fuel prices, which place the four-engine jet at a disadvantage "from a purely fuel perspective" compared to twin-engine widebodies.

Shenzhen Airlines subsidiary Kunpeng Airlines is expected to replace Shandong Airlines as the operator of the first ARJ21-700, which is scheduled to obtain its domestic airworthiness certificate next year. A Shenzhen spokesperson told ATWOnline that the first -700 will be delivered to Kunpeng in the second half of 2010. It ordered 100 ARJ21s at the end of 2007. In an effort to boost ARJ21 sales, Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Vice MD and the chief designer of China's large commercial aircraft Wu Guanghui called on Beijing to subsidize domestic carriers purchasing the ARJ21.

American Airlines MD-80 en route from New York LaGuardia to Chicago O'Hare made an emergency landing yesterday at New York JFK after an apparent engine failure. Metal parts, believed to be from one of the aircraft's engines, fell on a neighborhood in New York City's Queens borough. AA confirmed that pilots declared an emergency shortly after takeoff owing to an engine failure. All 88 passengers and five crew were uninjured. There were no injuries reported on the ground.

Lufthansa Group's firm order for 30 110-seat CSeries valued at $1.53 billion, announced yesterday, puts to rest any doubt that the program will take off, said Bombardier Commercial Aircraft President Gary Scott.

Bombardier intends to move forward on a larger version of its popular 70-seat Q400 turboprop, Commercial Aircraft President Gary Scott said yesterday. Speaking at the SpeedNews Commercial Aviation Industry Suppliers Conference in Los Angeles, Scott said, "We will build a bigger version of this airplane. It is just the timing to be determined." Responding to a question from the audience, he said, "We're looking at how big, 90 or 100 seats, and should it be a simple stretch or more? Over the course of the next 12-24 months we will sort that out."