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Boeing chalked up more than US$4.5 billion ($6.6 billion) in commercial plane orders today as Continental Airlines upped an existing order and operators from Russia and Kuwait agreed to buy more planes.
The orders underline airlines' excitement about the US planemaker's new 787 Dreamliner -- set for test flights this summer -- and keep the pressure on European rival Airbus, which has seen its share of the lucrative wide-body and freight markets slide dramatically.
The Chicago-based Boeing said Continental ordered five 787s, worth about US$900 million, increasing its orders for the new plane to 25.
The No 4 US airline is the largest US buyer of Boeing's new carbon and titanium jet, which will be able to service fast-growing routes between the United States, Asia and Europe, promising big fuel savings due to its lower weight.
The plane has been a hit with airlines around the world, racking up 464 orders as of last week, after launching in 2004.
Continental, which previously ordered 20 787-8s, said it would buy five of the larger 787-9 models and would convert 12 of the original orders for 787-8s into 787-9s. That means Continental now has on order 17 787-9s and eight 787-8s.
The 787-8 version is designed to carry 210 to 250 passengers on routes of 7650 to 8200 nautical miles (14,200 to 15,200km). The larger, more expensive 787-9 can take 250 to 290 passengers on routes of 8000 to 8500 nautical miles. Both planes could service routes such as Chicago to Tokyo or Los Angeles to Paris.
Earlier on Monday, Boeing announced two orders from other important customers.
It signed an agreement to sell 12 787s to Kuwait's Aviation Lease and Finance Co., along with six smaller 737-800s, for a total of US$2.26 billion at list prices.
Russian air cargo company Volga-Dnepr also signed a US$1.4 billion deal for five new 747-8 Freighter planes, with an option to buy five more, in what the president of Volga-Dnepr called the biggest ever deal in Russian civil aviation.
Combined, the orders will help Boeing in its battle for customers with Airbus, owned by European aerospace group EADS .
At the end of February, Boeing had 64 plane orders, the same number as it did at the same time last year, when it emerged as the best-selling planemaker for the first time since 2000. Airbus had orders for 97 planes on its books at the end of February.
Boeing's big orders come shortly after its commercial plane marketing chief announced his retirement.
On Friday, Randy Baseler -- vice president of marketing at Boeing's commercial airplanes unit since November 1998 -- said he would retire in April in a posting on his Randy's Journal blog
Baseler, 58, has worked at the company for 33 years. No successor has been announced.
- REUTERS
