UDVAR-HAZY 'POISED FOR LEASING RETURN'

The 5 February retirement of Steven Udvar-Hazy from International Lease Finance will have no immediate impact on the aircraft leasing giant he co-founded, but the 65-year-old is believed to be preparing to form a new company and return to the industry. Udvar-Hazy last year tried to lead a buy-out of part of ILFC, which has been for sale since parent insurer AIG received massive US government bail-out funds to avert collapse in 2009. ILFC president John Plueger succeeds Udvar-Hazy as acting chief executive.

ETHIOPIAN 737 RECORDERS RECOVERED

Search teams have recovered the chassis of the cockpit voice recorder of the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 that crashed off the coast of Lebanon on 25 January killing all 90 on board, but are still looking for its memory unit and locator beacon. The flight data recorder was recovered and sent to French investigation agency BEA for examination. Ethiopian says nothing - including sabotage - can be ruled out as a possible cause of the accident.

EUROCOPTER CLINCHES TAIWAN SAR ORDER

Eurocopter has received a contract from Taiwan to supply three EC225 civilian search and rescue helicopters to the island's air force. Confirmation of the deal came less than two weeks after China reacted angrily to the USA's plans to sell to Taiwan 60 Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk utility helicopters for $3.1 billion.

ROLLS-ROYCE DOWN DESPITE TRENT RECORD

Rolls-Royce civil engine deliveries were down 14% to 844 in 2009 and underlying civil aerospace division profit fell 13% to £493 million ($771 million). But the 224 Trent engine deliveries set a record for the type, marking a shift in mix away from the regional and corporate sectors, where deliveries fell nearly 40%. Rolls-Royce also delivered 347 International Aero Engines V2500 powerplants.

RUSSIA'S MS-21 PASSES LATEST DESIGN STAGE

A Russian ad hoc advisory council of industry and state representatives has approved preliminary design work on United Aircraft's MS-21 twinjet and recommended moving to project on to the next stage. The MS-21 is scheduled to fly in 2014.

UK URGED TO DOUBLE SPACE SPENDING

A joint government and industry group has called on the UK government to double spaceflight spending to more than £500 million ($780 million) by 2020. Recommendations from the Space Innovation and Growth Team include establishing a UK Earth observation system and satellites for universal broadband access.

TRIGANA ATR 42 LANDS IN RICE FIELD

An Indonesian Trigana Air Service ATR 42 made an emergency landing in a rice field after reporting a failure on one of its turboprop engines. The ATR 42-300, carrying five crew and 51 passengers, was on a scheduled flight from Berau to Samarinda in Kalimantan on 11 February. There were no serious injuries.

AIRASIA EXPANDS INTO VIETNAMESE MARKET

AirAsia has secured a foothold in the Vietnamese market following the acquisition of a 30% stake in start-up carrier VietJet. The low-cost airline will be branded VietJet AirAsia and operate on domestic and international routes.

Source: Flight International