Following the authorization to offer the A330 Freighter last summer, Guggenheim Aviation Partners, LLC (GAP), the US-based aviation investment firm, acting on behalf of one of its investment funds, is the first customer to sign a contract for the A330-200F, the newest member of the A330/A340 family. With this order for six aircraft, converting a Letter of Intent signed last October, GAP becomes a launch customer for the new Airbus freighter with deliveries expected to commence in early 2010.

On January 19, Italian airline Alitalia SpA called a shareholders' meeting to name a new board on February 22.

Carsten Spohr (40), previously Executive Vice President Services and Human Resources on the Board of Lufthansa Passenger Airlines, is taking up his new post as CEO and Chairman of Lufthansa Cargo AG on January 15. He succeeds Jean-Peter Jansen, who stepped down for health reasons in March 2006. The interim Chairman, Stefan Lauer, Member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, is to re-assume his post as Supervisory Board Chairman of Lufthansa Cargo AG.

On January 18, Airbus has delivered A320 manufacturing serial number 3000 (MSN3000) to Asia's largest low cost carrier, AirAsia. The official handover to Dato' Tony Fernandes, Group Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia by Louis Gallois, Airbus President and CEO, and co-CEO of EADS, took place at a ceremony held at Airbus' new Henri Ziegler delivery centre in Toulouse, France.

Willy Hallauer has been appointed as new president & chief executive officer of Swissport South Africa, with responsibility for the entire Africa region. Hallauer succeeds Jeroen de Clercq, who will be assigned another position within the Swissport group.

Mr Chin Yau Seng will be appointed Chief Executive of SilkAir with effect from 26 March 2007.

Air France-KLM chairman and CEO Jean Cyril Spinetta resigned from the Alitalia board on January 17, sending flutters through financial circles where his airline is seen as a possible bidder for the Italian one.

Airbus SAS, the world's largest maker of commercial aircraft, posted a loss last year after delays to the A380 superjumbo jet increased costs and led customers to buy Boeing Co planes, Bloomberg New reported.

General Electric Co, the world's biggest jet-engine maker, agreed to buy Smiths Group Plc's aerospace business for US$4.8 billion amid record demand for commercial aircraft.

General Electric is close to an agreement to buy the aerospace division of British industrial firm Smiths Group PLC for about 2.5 billion pounds, The Wall Street Journal reported on its website.