Lufthansa will wait until after Airbus firmly commits to the A350 XWB before making a decision on buying a 250-seat long-haul aircraft, VP-Americas Jens Bischof told reporters in Washington last week. The carrier will compare the revamped A350 with the 787. "We'll see who has the better product once the A350 redesign is done," he said.

The 787 is approximately 5,000 lb. overweight, 787 VP and GM Mike Bair said during a conference call with reporters yesterday, but the company has a plan to take the weight off through "further part optimization and material substitution." Bair described the weight issue and the development schedule as the biggest challenges facing the program, adding that these are "not dissimilar to past aircraft programs."

Intersky, an Austrian LCC, will add a fourth Dash 8 Q300 by next year. "Regarding our future fleet expansion program, from aircraft No. 5 up to No. 10 we plan to add Dash 8 Q400s," President Renate Moser told ATWOnline. Intersky is considering the ATR 72 and Embraer 175 as a future replacement for the Q300 and expects to add those aircraft by 2009. The carrier recently opened a four-times-weekly Graz-Berlin Templehof service and plans to start Friedrichshafen-Paris services next. It did not specify a Paris airport.

Singapore Airlines selected the Trent 700 to power the fleet of 19 leased A330-300s it will operate from early 2009 while waiting for delivery of its A380s and A350s (ATWOnline, July 24). The deal includes a TotalCare services agreement.

Air New Zealand converted three Q300 options on behalf of its Air Nelson regional subsidiary in a deal worth $48.6 million at list prices. The options were part of a 2004 order for 17 firm Q300s plus 10 options and 13 Q400 options. Bombardier had delivered nine of the 50-seat Q300s as of July 31.

Thai Airways yesterday took delivery of the first of six 777-200ERs it is adding to its fleet this year and in 2007. It will take delivery of three more this year and two in 2007.

In a significant departure from the LCC one-plane-fits-all strategy, Australia's Virgin Blue yesterday ordered three Embraer 170s and 11 190s plus six options. The aircraft will replace 737-800s on some thinner routes while adding frequency at off-peak times on others. The carrier said they will be used to expand domestic and regional markets. The airline, which currently operates a fleet of 53 737s, is Embraer's first customer in Australia.

TAM said late Tuesday that it placed a firm order for four 777-300ERs, the first Boeing jets it has ever purchased, and will take delivery of the aircraft in mid-2008. Additionally, Brazil's largest airline reported that it more than doubled its third-quarter net profit to BRL212.7 million ($99.2 million) from BRL93.3 million in the year-ago quarter on a 34.8% jump in revenues to BRL2.08 billion.