US FAA amended an airworthiness directive pertaining to Trent 800-powered 777s to incorporate new procedures recommended by Boeing 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 (ATWOnline, Feb. 5).

A malfunctioning altimeter caused the autopilot system on the Turkish Airlines 737-800 that crashed last week on approach to Amsterdam to reduce power prematurely, and by the time the pilots reacted it was "too late to recover the flight," Dutch Safety Board Chairman Pieter van Vollenhoven said yesterday.

Aeroflot will take delivery of its first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in December, 13 months behind the original schedule and one month later than the most recently promised date, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft's Viktor Subbotin told RIA Novosti (ATWOnline, Nov. 26, 2008). SU reportedly said it will fill the gap with short-term leases on alternative aircraft.

Delta Air Lines indicated it is having second thoughts about committing fully to Northwest Airlines' 2005 order for 18 787-8s, eliminating the aircraft from its list of firm orders in the annual report released this week. "The Boeing Co. has informed us that Boeing will be unable to meet the contractual delivery schedule for these aircraft. We are in discussions with Boeing regarding this situation," DL said in the report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It has not canceled the order.

Gulf Air took delivery of the first of four 777-300ERs Tuesday. The second and third will arrive this month and the fourth in May. Aircraft are on lease from Jet Airways, seat 312 across three classes and will replace GF's A340-300s.

ArkeFly took delivery of a second new 737-800 fitted with 180 seats across two classes. The Dutch TUI Travel airline will deploy the aircraft on its Mediterranean network. A third -800 will join the fleet in May.

Qantas was forced to withdraw its three A380s from service Monday because of unrelated fuel system problems that came after what had been described as the best entry into service of any aircraft with Australia's national airline. One A380, QF's first, had technical troubles in Sydney Saturday and was delayed 19 hr. before taking off for London Heathrow. On the return trip, the aircraft suffered a fuel leak and passengers were transferred 12 hr. later to a 747-400. Engineers in London fixed the leak and the A380 was back in service yesterday.

AVIC is expected to launch an aero engine company, airborne systems company and composite material engineering center in conjunction with the Beijing municipal government. According to the strategic cooperation agreement signed yesterday, the three new companies will have total registered capital of CNY11.5 billion ($1.68 billion), with total investment of CNY21 billion.