4 Chinese airlines to buy 42 Boeing planes
(Xinhua/AP)
Updated: 2005-08-09 19:26

Four Chinese airlines signed purchase contracts with Boeing to pay $5.04 billion for 42 of the company's 787 jets, Xinhua news agency reported.

While the contracts are part of a deal for 60 aircraft announced in January, and not a new transaction, the completion of the purchase contracts is another sign that the withdrawal of China National Offshore Oil Corp.'s bid for the U.S. oil company Unocal has not triggered a broad cooling in Sino-American commercial ties.

Contracts for the remaining 18 planes are still being drawn up, a Boeing executive said.

Air China and China Eastern Airlines will each buy 15 planes, Shanghai Airlines will buy nine planes, and Xiamen Airlines will buy three planes, the report said.

In January, six Chinese airlines signed an agreement with Boeing to order 60 of its new fuel-efficient 787 Dreamliners for $7.2 billion. It was not clear why the latest purchase contract did not include Hainan Airlines and China Southern Airlines, who were part of the earlier agreement.

Xiamen Air is 60 percent owned by China Southern Airlines, which along with Xiamen Air also signed a contract in April to buy 45 Boeing 737s.

The contract is an important step for Chinese and American companies to introduce new model aircraft, and shows a promising future of bilateral economic and trade cooperation, said Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice minister of National Development and Reform Commission.

He noted that China is the largest developing nation and its economic growth calls for rapid aviation growth. Last year, the growth rate of China's passenger volume reached 36 percent, and will remain a two-digital growth in the next few years. China will become the second largest civil aircraft market in the world.

Boeing's new model 787 aircraft will be put into use in China and play a more important role in China's market. In the next few years, China will introduce more aircraft, said Li Jun, vice minister of the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China.

To date, Boeing has received 143 firm orders and 109 additional commitments for the long-range 787, including the 60 orders the Chinese airlines placed in January.

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