Here are Your Apple rumors and news items for Monday, March 7.  Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is seeing big Macbook Air success, the iPhone ditches glass back and airlines pick up iPads for in-flight use.

1 Million MacBook Airs Shipped in Q4 2010: The biggest success stories among Apple products have been the continued rise of both the iPhone and the iPad tablet. But according to Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s laptop business has also experienced a surge. In a Saturday report at AppleInsider, Kuo said his sources within Apple’s supply chain in Asia indicate Apple shipped 1.1 million new MacBook Air laptops during the closing months of 2010. This would make the 11- and 13-inch laptops the most successful computer release in Apple’s history. It would also suggest that the MacBook Air accounted for more than one-third of all Mac sales during that period. Apple reported 2.9 million Mac sales for Q4 2010 during its February earnings report, but did not specify sales performance for individual models. Kuo said that MacBook Air sales have stayed brisk in the first quarter of 2011 and are on track to total around 700,000.

iPhone 5 Trades Glass for Aluminum Backing, Gets New Antenna: A report from Gadgets DNA originating from Chinese outlet Economic Daily News says Apple’s smartphone will be getting another case redesign when its fifth generation model releases. The iPhone 5 will have an aluminum backside rather than a glass one like the iPhone 4. The change will make for an iPhone that is harder to scratch and weighs less than existing models. The switch to aluminum also means that the iPhone will debut with a white model in addition to the traditional black. Apple has been promising a white iPhone 4 since June 2010, and problems painting the smartphone’s glass backing has allegedly been responsible for the delay. The fifth-generation iPhone will also have n internal antenna rather than an external one like the iPhone 4. The external antenna design caused a significant controversy over dropped calls when the iPhone 4 released last year.

Airlines Adopt iPad for Paperless Cockpit: Bloomberg reported Monday that airline pilots may begin using iPads rather than paper flight charts in the future. The Federal Aviation Administration approved a test program to use the tablet run by Executive Jet Management. FAA spokesman Les Dorr said that the approval means that commercial airlines now have the option to use iPads as well. Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) is among those that plan on testing tablet use rather than paper.

As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.