US aerospace giant Boeing and Sberbank of Russia announced Thursday that the top Russian bank has agreed to buy 12 Boeing 737 aircraft for leasing. The deal is valued at more than $1 billion at current list prices, the companies said in a joint statement. The bank's Sberbank Leasing unit will lease the dozen Next-Generation 737-800 planes to Transaero, one of the bank's key corporate customers. Through the accord, the companies hope to lay the groundwork for developing an environment for finance and operational leasing of imported aircraft in Russia.

Aerospace giant Boeing said Monday that a test flight of its troubled 787 plane went according to plan, in its latest step in returning to service the 787 fleet, grounded by two battery incidents. The 787 successfully traveled for 2 hours and 9 minutes, departing and returning to Everett, Washington, a company statement said. "Today's flight was a normal Boeing production check flight intended to validate that all systems function as designed," Boeing said. "The crew reports that the flight went according to plan."

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Boeing Co <BA.N> 787 Dreamliner took to the sky Monday in the first of two flights designed to help show that the new lithium-ion battery system meets regulatory safety standards. The flight took off at approximately 12:11 am Pacific Time from Paine Field in Everett, Washington, on a two-hour flight designed to show that systems are functioning normally. The global fleet of 50 Dreamliners has been grounded since January after batteries overheated on two separate aircraft.

Aerospace giant Boeing announced Monday that it plans to undertake a test flight Monday afternoon in its latest step in returning to service the 787 fleet, grounded by two battery incidents. The two-hour flight is expected leave at approximately 1800 GMT from Paine Field in Everett, Washington. Boeing described Monday's flight as a "functional check flight" designed to to "validate that all systems function as designed." After completing the first flight and analyzing the results, Boeing plans a "certification demonstration flight".