Airports operator BAA said on Thursday the UK Civil Aviation Authority should ease regulation of BAA's trio of London airports.

Venezuelan authorities decided to postpone restrictions on U.S. airline service to the country -- including a ban on all service by Continental and Delta -- but did not get rid of the uncertainty for future travelers.

As Boeing trumpets the early success of its Dreamliner program, the pressure on Airbus to counter its rival's offering continues to grow.ILFC Chairman and CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy, whose company ordered 12 A350s in November, surprised an audience at the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading conference in Orlando yesterday by calling on Airbus to abandon its current A350 design plans, which are based partially on the A330, and build an all-new aircraft with a new fuselage and new wing that can compete with the technologically advanced 787.

GE Commercial Aviation Services and Boeing announced an order yesterday for 30 firm and 30 option 737NGs, a deal worth approximately $4 billion at list prices.GECAS will take delivery of the 30 firm aircraft from 2008 through 2010. It has ordered 68 737s in the past two years--the lessor and its customer carriers will take delivery of 30 this year--and has more than 200 NGs out on lease to more than 30 airlines around the world. "It is a very popular aircraft model and we quickly leased all of the planes we ordered last year, so we needed more to satisfy our customers' demand," President and CEO Henry Hubschman said.

Cuba plans to buy five more Russian passenger jets after receiving two long-haul Ilyushin Il-96s to replace aging Soviet-era aircraft, a Russian diplomat said on Tuesday.

Boeing is predicting "another phenomenal year" for the 787 in 2006, with Mike Bair, VP and GM of the Dreamliner program, telling ATWOnline that there are another 30 offers out to airlines for 500 787s on top of the 28 customers who have committed to 386 aircraft.

The US National Transportation Safety Board on Friday urged FAA to order immediate inspections of the inner skin of the composite rudder surfaces of certain A300 series aircraft in order potentially to avert the possibility of "a catastrophic failure of the rudder," NTSB Acting Chairman Mark Rosenker said in a statement.

The A380 successfully completed its passenger evacuation test yesterday, "paving the way [for European aviation authorities] to certify the aircraft in time for delivery by the end of 2006," Airbus said.

The union representing flight attendants at Delta Comair said 93 percent of attendants had voted to authorize a strike.

The Egyptian head of an investigation into the crash of a Boeing 737 into the Red Sea off Egypt in 2004 delivered an inconclusive report on the disaster on Saturday but a French investigator blamed the crew.