CIT Group, the New York-based finance and leasing company, ordered five A350s and 24 A320s from Airbus valued at $2.2 billion at list prices, the companies announced yesterday. CIT said it also took options on an undisclosed number of additional aircraft.

Airbus and Russia's Irkut Corp. signed "a preliminary agreement" on Russian participation in the design and manufacture of the proposed A350 "on a risk-sharing basis," the companies announced yesterday. The letter of intent was signed at MAKS 2006 in Moscow by Airbus and Irkut on behalf of Unified Aviation Consortium, "a new umbrella organization that is being formed as a result of the restructuring of the Russian aviation industry," Airbus said.

UPS ordered eight 747-400Fs, Boeing said yesterday. The order is the first by UPS placed directly with Boeing for any 747 variant. First delivery is scheduled for June 2007 with two additional deliveries that year followed by the remaining five in 2008. UPS chose GE CF6-80C2-B1F engines to power the aircraft. Value of the order was not disclosed. Earlier this year, UPS signed up for 10 A380Fs plus 10 options

LAN Airlines threw a lifeline to Pratt & Whitney's PW6000 as it placed a launch order for the engine to power 15 firm A318s ordered in late June (ATWOnline, July 1) with options on a further 25 shipsets and spares. The firm order covers 34 engines including four spares, while the options cover 50 installed and six spare engines. A long-term maintenance agreement is part of the deal. Previous orders for the PW6000 were cancelled after the engine experienced extended design delays.

A loss of cabin pressure that incapacitated the cockpit crew appears to have been the cause of Sunday's crash of a Helios Airways 737-300 into a mountainside north of Athens, but investigators still have at least two mysteries to solve: What caused the aircraft to lose pressure and why were the pilot and copilot apparently unable to don oxygen masks and bring the aircraft to a survivable altitude before they were overcome from lack of oxygen?

More than 50% of large commercial transports delivered in the US in 2005-07 will go to low-fare airlines, according to data from the Airclaims CASE database. Of the 449 aircraft of more than 100 seats scheduled to be delivered to US carriers between Jan. 1, 2005, and Dec. 31 2007, low-cost carriers will accept 258, data show. In addition, JetBlue will take delivery of 43 100-seat Embraer 195s during the period. ATWOnline has excluded deliveries to Independence Air and ATA Airlines, both of which are in financial distress and have postponed or cancelled some orders.

Orient Thai Airlines, which operates regional and domestic services, is acquiring eight 172-seat MD-80s from Continental Airlines and will phase out two of its eight 747s. The MD-80s will be used by budget operation One-Two-Go. As part of the fleet revamp, two 757s flown by One-Two-Go will be transferred to Orient Thai. Bangkok Airways has decided to add 717s to its fleet despite acquiring A320s. It has sourced two more 717s, its fifth and sixth, that will be put into service next year.

Volga-Dnepr Group confirmed that the first new-build IL-76 cargo aircraft equipped with PS-90A-76 engines and "new generation avionics" completed a 30-min. test flight at an altitude of 700 m.