There won't be any significant breakthrough [in engine emissions] for at least three decades. There's no technical fix. All we can do is reduce the amount we fly." So says Joss Garman, founder of the anti-airline PlaneStupid.com environmentalist website. But talk to Mike Benzakein, Wright Brothers Institute professor and chair of the Aerospace Engineering Dept. at Ohio State University, or Alan Epstein, former R. C. MacLaurin professor of aeronautics and astronautics, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and you get a starkly different story.

Russia's Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co. is pressing ahead with the type certification schedule for its Superjet 100 ahead of launching serial production next year. On Nov. 5, a specially chartered An-124-10 flight operated by Volga-Dnepr Airlines transported fuselage, wings and empennage to the Siberian Chaplygin aviation research center in Novosibirsk for assembly of a second prototype for full-scale static tests.

ILFC Chairman and CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy confirmed last week at the ALTA Airline Leaders Form in Cancun that American International Group "is in the process of selling ILFC to a group of investors, including management."

TAM took delivery of the second of eight 777-300ERs it has on order and plans to use it to operate six-times-weekly Sao Paulo Guarulhos-Frankfurt flights.

PACE reached a deal with Etihad Airways to provide its Pacelab Cabin technology to explore prospective seating arrangements of passenger cabins for in-service aircraft and new deliveries. Software boasts flexible parametric modeling, intelligent positioning features and automatic compliance checks.

Ethiopian Airlines ordered eight Q400 NextGens plus four options. The deal is valued at $242 million, a figure that could rise to $366 million if all options are exercised. CEO Girma Wake said, "The aircraft's excellent range and payload capability will allow us to deploy it on domestic routes within Ethiopia, as well as on regional routes up to 1,000 nm. (1,850 km.) from Addis Ababa." Delivery dates were not disclosed. Bombardier said it has sold 330 Q400s with 210 delivered as of July 31.

Lion Air signed an MOU with ATR for 10 firm ATR 72-500s with options for 10 more. The deal is valued at more than $380 million including options. Deliveries are slated to start in 2009. The 72-seat turboprops will be operated by Lion Air subsidiary Wings Air, which is aiming to develop a low-cost network to feed Lion Air's major hubs.

Thales was selected by Airbus to supply the head-up display for the A350 XWB as a customer option. Thales said its HUD will support features such as Enhanced Vision Systems "and potentially Surface Guidance Systems and Synthetic Vision Systems." The new HUD has been redesigned with improved head clearance, "and the graphical generation is embedded within the Display Units, allowing a simplified architecture for the overall cockpit solution." This higher level of integration means a weight saving of around 16 kg. in a dual installation, it said.