Hong Kong Airlines, a rapidly expanding affiliate of Hainan Airlines, has chosen Rolls-Royce Trent 700s to power 20 Airbus A330s it has on order, extending the engine company’s stranglehold on the Chinese market for that Airbus type. Rolls-Royce values the order at $1.2 billion. Deliveries will begin in 2010. All 125 A330s in service or on order for Chinese mainland and Hong Kong carriers have selected the Trent 700, says the engine maker, which also claims a 50% market share on the A330, whose strong recent sales have surprised even Airbus.

A South Korea surveillance aircraft project aimed at producing a highly capable drone as big as the General Atomics Mariner would advance the country’s expertise in unmanned aircraft and ensure against unavailability of the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk. The South Korean air force program is running behind that of a smaller drone, the army’s KUS-9, which is supposed to be ready for production by next year.

China Eastern Airlines is still twisting and turning, trying to retain its independence in the face of a bid for control from the parent of Air China. In the latest move, the struggling Shanghai-based carrier has agreed to cooperate with China Southern Airlines in marketing, buying aircraft and ground services, according to the Shanghai Securities News. China Southern is willing to propose China Eastern as a member of the Skyteam alliance, but the two carriers do not propose to invest in each other.