Lufthansa took delivery of its third A380 Aug. 20 with a ferry flight from Hamburg to Frankfurt. The worldwide A380 fleet now stands at 36 operating aircraft. LH’s fourth A380 will be delivered this fall. Thai Airways has started talks with Airbus regarding an order for up to 30 A350s and six A380s, the Bangkok Post reported.

Ecuador’s AeroGal received the first of three A320-200s it has on order at a ceremony in Quito. The carrier expects to receive two more by year's end. Airbus said the carrier's A320s will be configured for two classes seating 150 passengers. The aircraft are replacing 737 Classics. AeroGal operates mostly domestic services but also Bogota-New York JFK flights. It carries around 1.2 million passengers annually.

Qantas has grounded five of its Q400s, citing problems with the landing gear. The airline inspected its 21 Q400s after Flybe raised concerns about undercarriage fittings on its fleet of Q400s, a Qantas spokesperson said.

Bernstein Research forecast that A350 deliveries will slip into 2014 and that Airbus will deliver only eight of the next-generation aircraft that year, flagging a significant slippage in the program. Asked to comment, an Airbus spokesperson told ATW, “We don’t have any basis to confirm the data in the Bernstein report.” Airbus has reassured the market in the past that the program is on track for a 2013 first delivery.

Boeing this week booked orders for four 737s but suffered a 777 cancellation, Reuters reported. The customers were unidentified. The manufacturer has tallied 258 orders so far this year. BAE Systems won a contract from SETE Aviation to remarket one CF6-80C2B6F-powered Privatair 767-300ER.