Trade mag says Boeing will land Qantas deal

Boeing plans to stretch the legs of its globe-trotting 777-200LR Worldliner and that’s enough to get Qantas to buy as many as 50 777s, plus another 50 787s, Air Transport World http://atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=2572 reported Monday.

Key Quote: “CEO Geoff Dixon told media in August that Boeing was close to getting Sydney-London range from its dash 200LR. The extra legs would come from an additional fuel tank and lighter interior fixtures borrowed from the 787 cabin.”

Needless to say, a 100-jet 777/787 deal would be huge — $16 billion-plus at list prices, or say $11 billion to $12 billion in actual currency changing hands.

In a win that was much smaller, but no less sweet, Boeing has won a two-jet deal to provide 777s to El Al Israeli Airlines, the Jerusalem Post http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1128219510325&p=1077768895034 reports.

Airbus had made a major push for the order and was likely to be “shocked” to have lost it, the newspaper said.

Key Quote: “Having lost El Al deals in the past due to heavy US pressure – which extended to the highest political levels – on the government-owned company, Airbus had stepped up efforts to sell to the now privatized El Al for the first time … (T)he airline was taken over by Knafaim Arkia Holdings Ltd. last December.”