Pinnacle Airlines yesterday signed a contract for 15 74-seat Q400s plus 10 conditional orders and 20 options. The firm aircraft are worth $381 million at list prices and the deal could climb to $1.2 billion if conditional orders and options are exercised, Bombardier said. Aircraft will be operated by Pinnacle subsidiary Colgan Air for Continental Connection.

Azerbaijan Airlines selected the GEnx to power the three 787-8s it ordered last month (ATWOnline, Feb. 26). The engine order is valued at more than $100 million, GE said.

US Airways is close to ordering 60 A320 family jets or 737NGs to replace its 737-300s and -400s and expects to make a selection by the end of April, according to Senior VP and CFO Derek Kerr. Speaking at the airline's media day in Tempe yesterday, Kerr said deliveries would occur in the 2008-10 timeframe and that both Boeing and Airbus have delivery positions available.

Emirates President Tim Clark told ATWOnline last week in Berlin that the operating costs of its A380 fleet will be higher than originally planned. "There are still an extra six tons of weight we can't get out of the A380. That will cost us extra money in operation for the next 10 or 15 years," Clark said.

ANA grounded its 13 Q400s yesterday following an incident at Kochi Airport where an aircraft with 60 people onboard circled while the pilot unsuccessfully attempted to lower the nosegear before bringing the plane down on its main wheels with the nose up. The nose reportedly then hit the runway but the pilot kept the Q400 on the tarmac. No one was hurt. The aircraft was delivered new to ANA in July 2005 and had flown just 2,966 hr. and 4,197 cycles. The Q400 fleet operates 45 sectors per day on 15 routes and carries more than 3,250 passengers.