Airbus yesterday delivered an A300 freighter to FedEx, the final A300/A310 that the manufacturer will produce. Over the life of the program, which was launched in 1969 with the first aircraft delivered to Air France in 1974, Airbus sold a total of 821 A300s/A310s. About 630 are still in service with approximately 80 operators.

Royal Brunei Airlines will lease four 787-8s for delivery beginning in late 2009, according to Rolls-Royce, which announced that it reached agreement with the carrier to provide Trent 1000 engines and a long-term TotalCare service accord. Aircraft lessor was not identified.

Air China will take delivery of 23 A320s that were part of the government's purchase of 150 aircraft concluded last fall (ATWOnline, Oct. 27, 2006), according to widespread press reports from China. CA will take the aircraft, worth approximately $1.41 billion at list price, between January 2009 and December 2012, according to a company statement. Its capacity will rise 5.9% with the new aircraft.

Northwest Airlines said it is selling nine of its 65 A319s as part of an effort to right-size its fleet. The carrier said the deals were negotiated during its Chapter 11 restructuring and now are nearing closing. Buyers and purchase prices were not disclosed. NWA's A319s are configured with 16 business-class and 108 economy seats. It also has 73 148-seat A320s.

Arkia Israel Airlines said it intends to convert its two 787 options into firm orders, according to press reports. It placed an order for two firm aircraft plus the options last winter (ATWOnline, Dec. 6, 2006).

The board of China Southern Airlines, which also is the parent of Xiamen Airlines, yesterday approved the purchase of 20 A320 family aircraft for CZ and 25 737-800s for Xiamen. The two orders will cost a combined CNY23.5 billion ($3.09 billion), according to a statement released yesterday. China Southern and Xiamen will sign contracts with Airbus and Boeing separately. CZ noted it expects to take delivery of A320s from March 2009 to August 2010 while Xiamen will introduce the 737s between July 2011 and November 2013.

Northwest Airlines' interest in the proposed CSeries aircraft line has provided a much-needed boost for the program, Bombardier said.

Pluna placed a firm order for seven CRJ900 NextGens plus eight options, becoming the first South American customer for the type, Bombardier announced. The order is worth approximately $261 million at list prices and would increase to some $571 million if all options are exercised. Delivery schedule was not announced.