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."

American Airlines placed a firm order for 42 787-9s valued at more than $8 billion with first delivery scheduled for September 2012, a move it said signals its continued focus on the future even as it navigates current economic difficulties. AA also has options for 58 more Dreamliners. The order is contingent upon reaching an agreement with its pilots that would allow the carrier to operate 787s. A provision in the purchase agreement with Boeing forces AA to "reconfirm" its order 18 months before each scheduled delivery.

EMS Technologies said Panasonic Avionics Corp. selected its eXConnect antennas for inflight broadband under a multiyear deal. EMS Technologies' Defense & Space Systems Division will provide the AURA-LE Ku-band antenna, a core system component developed by Panasonic and EMS.

Volaris received the first of 14 IAE V2500-powered A320s on order from Airbus. The Mexican LCC currently operates 18 A319s.

Aeroflot's first-half 2008 profit calculated under IFRS dropped 55% year-over-year to $72.2 million, according to an SU statement cited by press reports from Moscow. Last month it said profit under Russian accounting standards fell 29.7% to RUB2.25 billion ($85.9 million) on a 39.4% rise in revenue. Deputy DG-Finance and Planning Mikhail Poluboyarinov said full-year earnings may plunge nearly 67% to $80-$85 million, according to RIA Novosti. "We forecast that [traffic] will shrink.

Airbus issued an Operators Information Telex to all operators of its aircraft in the wake of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's investigation into the Qantas A330-300 incident on Oct. 7. The instruction advises crews to shut down the entire Air Data Inertial Reference Unit No. 1 in case of partial failure, which would isolate both IR and ADR to prevent the ADR from continuing to provide erroneous data. The A330 has three ADIRUs.

Turkish Airlines moved forward with its fleet renewal, announcing yesterday its intention to place an order for 25 widebody and 50 single-aisle aircraft plus 10 widebody and 10 narrowbody options.