Orient Thai Airlines, a private Thai carrier that operates charter flights, will purchase four new Tristar aircraft manufactured by Lockheed, a US aircraft maker, valued at more than USD16m by the end of 2000.

A new private online air travel service called eJets (www.ejets.com) has launched to provide luxury jet aircraft for chartering.

EVA Airways of Taiwan has placed an order with The Boeing Company and General Electric Company for seven 777 jet aircraft, comprising four longer range 77-300 models and three longer range 777-200 aircraft. Contract value was not disclosed.

Continental Airlines, a US carrier, has been named the top airline by readers of Ziff Davis Smart Business magazine, with the publication saying that `Excellent service, plush lounges, and a generous frequent flier program pushed Continental to the top of our readers'list.`

Serck Aviation has launched a new method for producing flightworthy heat exchangers for the Pratt & Whitney PW600 aero-engine using prototype techniques at Farnborough 2000. The method allows the company to produce the heat exchangers from CAD 30 models in 18 weeks.