SAS Group currently operates nine A330s/A340s and will not continue to operate a long-haul network if it is forced to reduce that fleet to fewer than seven, President and CEO Mats Jansson told ATWOnline at last week's Star Alliance event in Newark. "The crisis hit SK in November/December 2007, at a time where we had actually been evaluating extending our long-haul fleet from 11 to 12 aircraft. But we eventually had to reduce the fleet," he said.

A Jetstar Airways A330-200 with 209 passengers and crew onboard suffered momentary erratic speed data indications from its computers in apparent bad weather and possible icing conditions on an Oct. 29 flight from Tokyo Narita to Gold Coast. The scenario bears similarities to that which investigators believe may have been a factor in the loss of an Air France -200 over the Atlantic Ocean five months ago (ATWOnline, Sept. 1).

Lufthansa Friday refused to confirm press reports that it has decided to defer A380 deliveries. CFO Stephen Gemkow said last week during the company's interim results news conference in Frankfurt that LH was discussing deferrals with manufacturers for aircraft scheduled to arrive in 2010-13. A spokesperson told ATWOnline, "We did not give any specifics regarding which aircraft types could be affected.

GE/Snecma JV targets 16% fuel efficiency gain in the LEAP-X.

Open rotor engines will bring substantial environmental benefits if the technological issues can be solved.