LAN Airlines' impending fleet upgrade, for which it approved a capital increase this week (ATWOnline, March 8), reportedly will comprise four 777-200Fs, six 767-300s with an option to convert those to 787s, six A340-300s and 15 A320 family aircraft. The latter constitute option conversions. A formal announcement is expected shortly.

CAE announced the sale of its first three 787 full-flight simulators, two to Qantas and one to China Eastern Airlines subsidiary Shanghai Eastern Flight Training. It also sold a 737-800 FFS to KLM. The four orders are worth a combined C$67 million ($56.9 million), CAE said. The airlines will take delivery next year.

Finnair yesterday made the first firm commitment for the new A350 XWB powered by the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB, signing a contract for 11 of the type along with a flexible mix of seven A330s and A340-300s.

First Choice Airways of the UK exercised options for four 787-8s yesterday, bringing its commitment to 12 (ATWOnline, Dec. 8, 2006) and making it the type's largest European customer. "The success of our long-haul program with our upgraded Boeing 767s has given us the confidence to order 12 Boeing 787s," First Choice MD Dermot Blastland said. It selected GEnx engines for the order, which will double the size of its long-haul fleet by 2013.

Indonesia's air safety record was under intense scrutiny yesterday following a second fatal 737-400 accident in 10 weeks, this one involving a Garuda Indonesia aircraft that skidded off a runway upon landing in Yogyakarta and caught fire in an adjacent rice field, killing 21 of 133 passengers and one of seven crewmembers.