150 Orders Placed In The Past Three Years

Fueled by growth in passenger traffic and an economic boom, a senior Arab official confirmed that Boeing has secured more than $10 billion in plane orders from Arab carriers in the past three years, reports Reuters.

"If you look over the last three years we have got about 150 orders across the Arab air carriers," said Lee Monson, senior vice president, Middle East and Africa Commercial Sales.

"The total value right now is about $10 billion," he said, mainly for Boeing 777 planes, 747-Dash 8 freight, and the next generation 787 models.

Boeing is also reportedly engaged in negotiations with undisclosed Arab carriers for major orders this year, Monson said, declining to give details.

"We are in significant discussions with several airlines across the entire model family in the Arab world," Monson said.

Boeing also concluded an agreement last week worth $2.26 billion with the Kuwaiti aircraft leasing firm Alafco to sell 12 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners and six Boeing 737-800 planes.

Production of the Dreamliner is not due until later this year with first deliveries scheduled in 2008.

Two other agreements for the 787-8 Dreamliner close to being finalized with an undisclosed Gulf airliner would be announced at the Paris air show, Monson said.

Jordan's state carrier Royal Jordanian signed an agreement Sunday to buy Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners in a deal worth about $280 million, with negotiations for two more planes, in the first arrangement by an Arab carrier to purchase the new Boeing plane.

An economic boom in the Arab Gulf region, with a tripling of oil prices, has allowed many regional carriers to expand and modernize their fleets, Monson said.

Aircraft demand is rising on the back of increased traffic and an extended rally in the fortunes of a notoriously cyclical industry following a steep downturn at the start of the decade.

"The economic growth is significant and the traffic growth in this region is around 6 percent when you look at a world average of about 3 percent," he said.

"So this region is growing twice as fast as the rest of the world. So we are seeing the opportunities for traffic which is driving the need for new aircraft."

But despite the significant success in the last two years by Boeing in securing sales of 2,000 planes worldwide, delivery delays remained a problem that has been helping rival European manufacturer, EADS, Monson said.

"One of the biggest challenges we face is the delivery positions are significantly into the future, even though we see airlines doing forward planning," Monson added.

Airbus's proposed challenger to the Boeing 787, the A350, is not due to reach its first customer before 2013, five years behind the Boeing model, but analysts say Airbus has been pitching the current A330 aircraft to airlines as a stop-gap.

FMI: http://en.boeing-me.com/ViewContent.do?id=16943, www.alafco-kw.com/alafco, www.rja.com.jo