SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines parent SkyWest Inc. announced plans to acquire 22 larger regional jets, replacing 23 30-seat Brasilia turboprops and four 50-seat CRJs that will be transitioned out of the fleet. Operating as a regional partner of United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, SkyWest said it has not selected a manufacturer for the new aircraft but will begin discussions with Bombardier and Embraer. It expects deliveries to begin in late 2008 and continue through 2009.

Qantas, the largest customer for the 787, was among several carriers that offered generally muted responses yesterday to Boeing's announcement that it will delay first flight and first delivery by at least six months.

Aerolineas Argentinas and Air Comet parent Grupo Marsans, the Spanish tourism and transport giant, yesterday signed an MOU with Airbus for four A380s, 10 A350-900s, five A330-200s, five A321s, 25 A320s and 12 A319s. No catalog value or engine choice was announced in conjunction with the order, which follows Marsans' 2006 commitment for 12 A330-200s.

Uzbekistan Airways selected the GEnx to power the two 787-8s it ordered this summer. The order is valued at more than $70 million, GE Aviation said.

Tiger Airways confirmed its Paris Air Show order for 30 A320s plus 20 options, Airbus announced. The LCC currently operates nine A320s, with 11 scheduled for delivery by 2010. Airbus said that no engine choice had been made but Tiger announced in August that it had selected the V2500 (ATWOnline, Aug. 31). The reason for the discrepancy was unclear. Aircraft will seat 180 in a single-class configuration.

Boeing yesterday admitted that its plan to overcome production delays in time to deliver the first 787 to ANA on schedule next May was too ambitious, and delivery now will take place in late November or early December 2008. First flight of the Dreamliner has been pushed back to the end of the 2008 first quarter from last month's plan to fly the airplane in late November or early December, which itself represented a delay over previous plans to make the first flight in September (ATWOnline, Sept. 12).

Wizz Air yesterday signed a contract for 50 firm A320s plus 25 options, an order that the manufacturer said was the largest ever from Central and Eastern Europe for a single Airbus type.

Embraer reported its firm order backlog increased by $1.6 billion in the third quarter to a record $17.2 billion. The Brazilian manufacturer delivered 38 commercial aircraft during the period in addition to nine Legacy business jets and a single Brasilia for government use. Company officials said they are seeing results from efforts to improve the supply chain and production process (ATWOnline, Aug. 16) and that they expect to deliver 165-170 jets in 2007.