Air France CEO Pierre-Henry Gourgeon said the A330-200 carrying 228 passengers and crew that crashed late Sunday into the Atlantic Ocean experienced "multiple technical failures," and the Brazilian air force yesterday spotted debris where a TAM flight crew had seen spots of fire on the ocean surface shortly after the A330 was suspected to have gone down.

Zest Air of the Philippines placed an order for six additional MA60s. The carrier, formerly Asian Spirit, already operates five of the Chinese-built aircraft and expects to take delivery of the newly ordered planes starting in October. Two more will arrive in December, with the remaining three coming next year, AVIC's Xi'an Aircraft Industry Co. said. The MA60 has received 92 firm orders, with letters of intent signed for another 70. The MA600 has received 12 orders.

Alitalia received a fifth new A320, part of a major fleet renewal comprising 90 new A320s by 2013 and 14 A330s. It will take delivery of a further nine A320s by year end. All seats on the new A320 fleet are equipped with LCD screens and AZ is replacing seats on its existing Airbus fleet. Its fleet currently comprises 153 aircraft, 135 used for short/medium haul and 18 on long-haul flights.

BAE Systems Asset Management arranged the placement of a BAe 146-200QT freighter with PT Nusantara Air Charter of Indonesia. Aircraft was owned by Erik Thun and previously was managed by European Turboprop Management of Sweden.

KLM took delivery of the third of eight 777-300ERs. The fourth -300ER is scheduled to join the fleet this summer and will feature the new SkyTeam livery. AWAS delivered a 737-700 to Moskovia Airlines, its first Western-built aircraft. Airline is based at Moscow Zhukovsky.

Rolls-Royce expressed confidence this week that the open rotor concept can be viable, asserting that it will "comfortably meet Stage 4 noise requirements."

Boeing booked five 787 orders and had orders for five 767s cancelled during the week ended May 26, according to the manufacturer's Orders and Deliveries website. The customer(s) were not identified. It now has taken 13 gross 787 orders this year, but cancellations have reduced the net to -44 so far (ATWOnline, May 12). Its year-to-date totals across all types now are level--65 gross orders and 65 cancellations for a net of zero.

Lufthansa Systems renewed its contract with XL Airways France covering use of its flight management system database for another three years.