Kuwait company’s order is one of three Boeing deals announced today

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, March 11, 2007

SEATTLE – ALAFCO Aviation Lease and Finance Co. of Kuwait signed orders Monday for 12 Boeing 787-8s and six 737-800s, the first 787 order from a Middle East carrier to be finalized, the Boeing Co. announced.

The 18 planes carry a total list of $2.26 billion, according to a Boeing statement, although airlines typically negotiate substantial discounts.

Six of the 787s were previously listed without the name of the buyer on the manufacturer’s Web site, and the rest will be posted to the Web site this month, Boeing said.

In November 2005 ALAFCO signed orders for 12 Airbus A350s, making it the first leasing company to place an order for the European manufacturer’s answer to the Boeing 787, but that plane is five years behind the Boeing model in development.

In November 2006 ALAFCO announced orders for six Airbus A320s, which compete with the Boeing 737.

ALAFCO became a publicly traded company in October and has airplanes on lease with nine carriers.

The 787 deal was one of three Boeing orders announced Monday.

Continental Airlines Inc. has ordered five more Boeing 787 Dreamliners, bringing its total order to 25, the airline said Monday.

The five new orders are for the 787-9, which can fly farther and carry more passengers than other versions of the Dreamliner.

Continental also said it was converting 12 previously ordered 787-8s to the larger model, which can seat between 250 and 290 passengers.

Peter Conte, a spokesman for the Boeing Co.’s Seattle-based commercial airplanes division, confirmed the Continental order Monday.

The five new jets are worth about $916 million at list prices, and a dozen 787-9s are worth $1.8 billion more than 787-8s. Customers often negotiate significant discounts.

Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner is designed to use 20 percent less fuel than comparable airplanes. The plane’s first flight is scheduled for this year, and it will enter into commercial service in 2008.

Continental said it was the first airline in the Americas to order the 787-9.

Russian long-haul air shipper Volga-Dnepr also has signed a deal with Boeing Co. to buy five new long-range 747-8F jets, with an option for five more in future years, the company said Monday.

Russian media said the deal was worth $1 billion.

The deal is a bright spot for Boeing in Russia, where the U.S. jet manufacturer’s efforts to increase sales have been stymied by politics.

The purchase of the 747s ”facilitates the successful achievement of the company’s strategic corporate goal to become the fastest-growing company rated among top 20 leaders of the global air cargo market,” Volga-Dnepr President Alexei Isaikin said in a statement.

The first plane is scheduled to be delivered in early 2010 with the other four to be delivered over the next three years, the company said. No price for the deal was given, but RIA-Novosti said it was worth up to $1 billion.

Volga-Dnepr is a major international air shipper that relies heavily on the massive Russian-built Antonov-124 jets, known as Ruslans, as well as other Russian cargo jets and some Boeings. Along with Ukraine’s Antonov Design Bureau, the two companies control three-quarters of the world’s 23 Antonovs jets.

Boeing has been angling to strike a multibillion deal with Russian state-controlled flagship carrier Aeroflot in recent months, but talks have been put on hold and tense relations between Russia and the United States are suspected as the cause.

Aeroflot management last year asked the Russian government, the company’s controlling shareholder, to approve a deal to upgrade its long-range fleet by buying 22 Boeing 787s and an equal number of Airbus A350s. CEO Valery Okulov said later that no permission for the purchase had been received and a deadline for the deal had been missed.

Aviation analysts have valued the Aeroflot Boeing order at $2.5 billion.