ARINC reached separate agreements with SAS and Finnair to provide the carriers with its Globalink satellite voice and data services.

Garuda Indonesia and Boeing are in talks about an order for 10 787-8s and 18 737-800s potentially worth $2 billion. The order, if finalized, will replace a 1996 order for 777-200ERs. The 787-8s will be delivered between 2011 and 2013. The 737-800s will start the replacement of the airline's 737 Classic fleet. Garuda operates three 747-400s, an A330-300, 26 737-400s, 17 737-300s and five 737-500s.

Airbus said Alitalia will install its Future Air Navigation System B on 23 A321s, joining Aeroflot and Finnair as customers for the data link navigation system.

Jet Airways is betting heavily on international growth and much of its anticipated $3 billion in new investment will go toward the acquisition of a new long-haul fleet, CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer told ATWOnline in Mumbai last week.

Cimber Air Maintenance Group, part of Cimber Aviation Group, completed an ATR 72 cargo conversion for Irish operator Air Contractors Ltd., the third aircraft conversion for the Dublin-based carrier. The aircraft went into service in the Channel Islands on Aug. 15.

Jade Cargo International finally confirmed its order for six 747-400ERFs valued at $1.3 billion for delivery from January 2006 through January 2008. It previously had been listed by Boeing as an unidentified customer. The deal takes Boeing's 2005 747 order book to 19 net of cancellations. Jade Cargo, based in Shenzhen, plans to begin operations in 2006. It was founded in October 2004 and is the first joint venture airline of its kind in China, with ownership split among Shenzhen Airlines, Lufthansa Cargo and DEG, a subsidiary of KfW-Bank Group.

American Airlines ordered 20 Aviation Partners Boeing 757 blended winglet shipsets and took options on an additional 123 sets, which would cover its entire 757 fleet. AA will retrofit the winglets at its Tulsa maintenance base beginning in November. As part of the agreement, it also will retrofit a 737-800 with winglets in October.

Southwest Airlines has "strongly requested" that Boeing develop a more fuel-efficient successor to the 737-700 that would use technology developed for the 787, the Seattle Times reported earlier this week. CEO Gary Kelly made the remark during an interview in Seattle. "We are now facing energy prices that no airline can make money at, at least with today's [ticket prices], so we're anxious to partner with Boeing to find a successor aircraft," the newspaper quoted Kelly as saying.