Aeroflot is targeting a deal for 28 Airbus A350 jets by the end of this year, double an initial outline agreement, as the airline pushes expansion plans buoyed by a recovering economy. The board authorised the purchase of a second tranche of 14 A350-900s last month, but final terms including cabin configuration, delivery slots and pricing remain to be negotiated, Deputy CE Giorgio Callegari said. The total transaction will be worth US$8.7b at list prices. Sign-off on the plan would cap a 10-year saga that began in 2007 with an order for 22 A350s and the same number of Boeing 787s. Aeroflot later scrapped the 787 deal and began re-evaluating the Airbus purchase as planes became available from failed rival Transaero Airlines. <br/>
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A flight from Shanghai to Guangzhou was delayed after an elderly woman passenger was suspected of throwing coins into the plane’s engine to ensure “good luck”, mainland media reported. China Southern Airlines Flight 380 was held up at the Shanghai Pudong International after an elderly woman passenger caused a disruption, according to the airline. An investigation into the incident is under way. Passengers boarding the flight reportedly saw an elderly woman throwing coins at the engine for “blessings” from the middle of the boarding staircase and alerted the crew. After maintenance crew inspected the aircraft, they found 9 coins in one engine. The captain was quoted as saying the metal, if sucked up by the engine, could have caused serious damage, including failure. <br/>
Delta Air Lines has retired its first Boeing MD-90, as it prepares to begin a 3-year drawdown of its MD-88 fleet. The aircraft was withdrawn from service June 23. The MD-90 was one of the first two delivered to launch customer Delta in March 1995. Delta has no immediate plans to retire the remaining 64 MD-90s in its fleet, a spokesman says. The airline is still on track to remove its 116 MD-88s by 2020. The aircraft will be replaced by the larger 122 Airbus A321s that it has on order, including the 10 it added to its orderbook during the Paris air show earlier in June. The aircraft retirement last week was the first reduction to Delta's fleet of former McDonnell Douglas twin-jets since it wrote off an MD-88 following a runway excursion in March 2015. <br/>