Five passengers remained in the hospital yesterday as the US National Transportation Safety Board's Go Team continued to investigate the Saturday evening crash of a Continental Airlines 737-500 that veered from Denver International Airport's runway 34R while on its takeoff roll, crossed a field and a taxiway, careened down a 40-ft. hill and caught fire.

ANA confirmed the postponement of selection of its future large aircraft type (ATWOnline, Nov. 19), citing the "unforeseen changes to its operating environment since the financial crisis of September this year." The airline is considering the A380, 747-8 and 777-300ER as its future long-haul flagship. It said its "New Aircraft Selection Committee will remain on hold until the company deems market conditions conducive to resuming the selection process."

Boeing 787 watchers will see some "action" at the Everett plant by mid-to-late February, insiders say, with word from the factory floor indicating that the first aircraft, ZA001, will have all fastener issues resolved by the end of this month and will be rolled out for repainting at the end of February.

Athens Airways took delivery of the first of four ex-Flybe ERJ-145s from Aircraft Solutions in a transaction arranged by Airstream International Group. It will enter service next month. AS acquired 16 145s from Flybe last year and 10 have been placed by AIG.

SriLankan Airlines announced the launch of a "re-fleeting program" with the Nov. 30 delivery of an A320 on a three-year lease from AWAS. The two-year-old aircraft is the first to join the airline in more than four years and will seat 20 in business class and 132 in economy. A second A320 is scheduled to arrive this month, with a third and fourth expected in the 2009 first quarter and a fifth sometime next year. They will replace existing A320s, with two to leave the fleet by year end.

Volvo Aero said its low-pressure compressor for the EU's VITAL (Environmentally Friendly Aero Engine) successfully completed testing performed in partnership with the Swedish Defense Research Agency at Sjoland & Thyselius Aerodynamic Research Centre AB in Stockholm. According to Volvo, the LPC is designed to be 15% lighter than current LPCs. Increasing the performance of each stage permitted a reduction in the total number of stages, thus saving weight and length. "The testing. .

KLM cityhopper will deploy a new E-190 on one of its six daily Amsterdam-Brussels flights beginning today as part of a fleet renewal program that includes integration of 10 190s by March 2010 to replace its oldest F100s (ATWOnline, Aug. 6, 2007). The first 190 arrived Nov. 10. The KLM subsidiary also will take over five F70s from Regional in 2009. At the start of 2010, the cityhopper fleet will consist of 10 190s, five newer F100s, 26 F70s and 12 F50s.

US National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating an incident last month in which a Delta Air Lines 777-200ER experienced an "uncommanded engine rollback in the cruise phase of an intercontinental flight." DL Flight 18 was over Montana en route from Shanghai to Atlanta on Nov. 26 at about 12:30 p.m. MST when the incident occurred to the No. 2 engine.