Boeing garnered orders for 15 787s and two 777s during the week ended Dec. 9, according to its Orders and Deliveries website. The customer(s) were not identified. The commitments lifted the manufacturer's 2008 gross order total to 663, including 94 787s and 54 777s. Net orders of 657 aircraft include 93 787s.

Swedish regional Golden Air took delivery of its first new ATR 72-500 yesterday. It currently operates one used 72-500, five Saab 340Bs and five Saab 2000s.

Vietnam Airlines ordered six ATR 72-500s valued at more than $112 million, ATR announced. They will be equipped with the Elegance cabin, powered by PW127Ms and bring the number of -500s it currently has on order to 11. All are scheduled for delivery in 2009 and 2010. Its current ATR fleet comprises seven 72-200s and three 72-500s.

Boeing yesterday confirmed that the 787's first flight will not take place until the 2009 second quarter, with first delivery to ANA pushed back to the 2010 first quarter, marking the fifth time the manufacturer has delayed the Dreamliner program.

Air New Zealand will conduct the world's first commercial aviation test flight powered by a sustainable second-generation biofuel on Dec. 30. The flight was scheduled for Dec. 3 but was postponed after the loss of one of the airline's A320s during a "return from lease acceptance test flight" in France (ATWOnline, Nov. 12). The 2-hr.

Rolls-Royce said its Trent 700 last week successfully powered the first scheduled flight of an Aeroflot A330-200 from Moscow Sheremetyevo to St. Petersburg. Flight marks the Trent's service entry in Russia, and "demonstrates the growing presence of Rolls-Royce in the Russian market," VP-Customer Business Nick Devall said. In June 2007, Rolls won a $600 million deal with SU to provide the Trent 700 to power 10 leased A330-200s and A330-300s and support the engines under a long-term TotalCare service agreement.

Airbus booked 84 firm orders in November, including 51 from Etihad Airways, helping it pull away from Boeing in the 2008 orders race. It also delivered 46 aircraft.

GE Aviation yesterday announced a $40 million deal with Azerbaijan Airlines to provide CF6-80C2s to power two forthcoming 767-300ERs. Deliveries are slated for 2010. Azerbaijan operates CFM56-5s on its A320 fleet and has four CFM56-7B-powered 737-900s and two GEnx-powered 787s on order.