ABX Air won a US FAA STC for the Wingspeed Corp. XLLink Flight Information Architecture it selected last year for voice and data communications on 13 767-200SF charter aircraft.

Avianca reached a $750 million, 15-year OnPoint Solutions deal with GE Aviation for MRO services on CFM56-5B engines powering 50 A319s/A320s. Work will be performed at GE's Celma shop in Petropolis, Brazil. Avianca took delivery of its first A320 last week, a -200 on lease from CIT Aerospace. It is the first of three aircraft CIT will deliver to the Colombian carrier this year.

A surge in new aircraft orders helped boost Embraer's 2007 net income to $489.3 million, a 25.4% increase over the $390.1 million earned in the prior year. The Brazilian manufacturer reported sales of $5.25 billion, up 39.6%. Its firm-order backlog increased 9.3% over the previous year, reaching a record high of $18.8 billion, and comprised 764 firm orders plus 786 options.

Boeing secured orders for an additional 35 787s, all for unidentified customers, that are part of 85 new aircraft orders the manufacturer listed this week. It also sold 40 737s and 10 777s, again to unnamed customers. The orders take its 2008 total to 275, comprising173 737s, one 747, 26 777s and 75 787s.

CIT Aerospace this week signed a firm contract for 15 A320s and five A330-200s. The aircraft are worth approximately $1.9 billion at list prices, CIT said, and will be delivered from 2011 through 2014. "We continue to see a growing demand from our customer base for more efficient aircraft similar to the Airbus A320 and A330 family of aircraft. As a result of this demand we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to further enhance and diversify our fleet," President-Transportation Finance C. Jeffrey Knittel said. No engine choices were announced.