Spirit AeroSystems won a contract with Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. to design and build the pylon for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet. Financial terms were not disclosed. First delivery of the MRJ is slated for 2013.

Croatia Airlines ordered four A319s, Airbus announced. New aircraft will be powered by CFM56-5s and seat 132 in two classes. It already operates eight A320s. No delivery date was announced.

United Technologies Corp. announced that Hamilton Sundstrand President David Hess will succeed Stephen Finger as president of Pratt & Whitney on Jan. 1 when Finger retires. Alain Bellemare, currently president of Pratt & Whitney Canada, will succeed Hess at Hamilton Sundstrand. Hess and Bellemare will report to UTC President & CEO Louis Chenevert. Hess, 53, joined UTC in 1979 and has been with Hamilton Sundstrand since 1995. He has held his current position for three years.

The Russian government is moving ahead with forging a state-owned airline alliance to replace defunct AiRUnion, with the first board meeting of the new nine-carrier grouping scheduled for Nov. 11. The company will be 51% owned by Russian Technology Corp., a source close to the negotiations confirmed to ATWOnline, with Russia Airlines (or some derivative thereof) reportedly the preferred name. RIA Novosti reported that the Moscow city government will hold the remaining 49% (ATWOnline, Oct. 2).

Tianjin-based Okay Airways became the first Chinese carrier to operate the domestically produced MA60 as the company completed a successful inaugural flight on Oct. 19. The 50/60-seat turboprop's other customers are from Latin America, Africa and elsewhere in Asia. The aircraft has received 136 orders so far. China's first LCC, Okay has increased its focus on the regional market in recent years (ATWOnline, March 17). Last year it signed a lease deal with China Aviation Industrial Leasing Co.

Ryanair exercised options for 10 737-800s under terms of its 2005 agreement with Boeing (ATWOnline, Feb. 25, 2005). Three aircraft are scheduled for delivery in October 2010 and seven the following month. Separately, the LCC said it has asked the UK Office of Fair Trading to investigate Air BP's alleged attempt to increase the delivery cost of aviation fuel at Belfast City and Glasgow Prestwick by more than 50%.

The US National Transportation Safety Board issued an "urgent recommendation" to FAA to require that all Pratt & Whitney PW2037 engines be removed from service for inspection of the second-stage turbine hubs when they have accumulated 10,880 flight hr. and/or 4,392 cycles, a warning driven by the board's investigation of a Delta Air Lines 757-200 uncontained engine failure on an attempted takeoff from Las Vegas on Aug. 6.

Airbus decided to pull back on planned production rate increases, citing "uncertainty in the financial markets." A320 family production will stay at 36 per month rather than being ramped up to 40 by 2010 as planned and A330 production will grow from eight to 10 per month but not up to 11 by 2010 as previously planned. "This is clearly the prudent thing to do," COO-Customers John Leahy told The Wall Street Journal. "We will reevaluate the situation in the first half of next year and decide whether to [reinstitute] the ramp-up."