A chapter of aviation history came to a close Tuesday when the final two 717s, numbers 155 and 156, were delivered to Midwest Airlines and AirTran Airways respectively, the No. 2 and No. 1 largest customers for the twinjet, which started life as the MD-95 in 1995.

The harsh realities of the airline industry have created a new opportunity for ATR, which racked up a record 90 orders for ATR 42/72 turboprops in 2005 and sold a further 46 in the first four months of the current year. "The economics and pressure for airlines to reduce costs is certainly a driving factor," VP John Moore said this week at the Regional Airline Assn. conference in Dallas. Other factors are also at play, he said, citing the growth in Regional airline traffic and a "new wave" of LCCs adopting the turboprop for markets in Europe and Asia.

Regional jet manufacturers Bombardier and Embraer have made their intentions clear: Both will continue to focus primarily on marketing and development of aircraft in the 60/100-seat range.

Mesa Air Group's first go! aircraft, a CRJ200, arrived in Honolulu yesterday more than two weeks ahead of the inter-island startup's scheduled June 9 launch (ATWOnline, March 24). The aircraft, acquired from defunct Independence Air, sported a livery featuring an ocean wave. "The arrival of this aircraft demonstrates our commitment to the launch," Mesa Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein said. Go!

Japan Airlines took delivery of the second 747-400BCF Sunday in Xiamen. JAL has orders for eight conversions and four options. The first dash 400BCF was redelivered to Cathay Pacific in December.

BAE Systems Regional Aircraft said it covered the placement of an Avro RJ100 to FaroeJet of the Faroe Islands, two ATP freighters with MagicBird Airlines of the Netherlands and four Jetstream 41s with Yeti Airlines of Nepal.

Boeing said yesterday that it has completed 25% of the releases required for the 787 that allow purchases to be made, tools to be developed and parts to be built. All releases for the Dreamliner program are digital. "We have seen tremendous progress by our international partners and the Boeing team working on the detailed design of this airplane," said Mike Bair, VP and GM of the 787 program.

Unison Industries was selected by Aircelle, a member of Safran Group, to build several systems for the PowerJet SaM 146 engine to be used for Sukhoi Civilian Aircraft's RRJ. Unison will deliver more than 1,000 sets to Aircelle worth more than $20 million over the duration of the 10-year agreement.