Boeing bags record order from Indonesia's Lion Air

Boeing announced the world's largest commercial order for aircraft Thursday, with a deal with Indonesia's Lion Air for 230 aircraft with a list price of $21.7 billion. Lion Air and Boeing will sign a commitment for the aircraft, a combination of 201 737 MAXs and 29 737-900 ERs, in Bali Friday morning with US President Barack Obama in attendance, Boeing said. The deal was announced soon after Obama touched down in Bali for the East Asia summit on the final leg of a regional tour partly aimed at drumming up markets for US products at a time of slow growth back home. "With 230 airplanes at a list price of $21.7 billion, this deal when finalized will be the largest commercial airplane order ever in Boeing’s history by both dollar volume and total number of airplanes," Boeing said in a statement. By the face value, it would also be the largest any aircraft maker has received. Boeing said the deal also includes the option to order another 150 aircraft, which could put the eventual value at $35 billion. Boeing spokesman Wilson Chow said the sale underscores the strength of the aviation market in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region. "According to our outlook, Asia-Pacific is one of our fastest growing markets areas.... We're expecting a seven percent growth of traffic per year for the next 20 years," he told AFP. He declined to give a timeframe for delivery of the aircraft, but noted that the 737 MAX will only be ready for delivery in 2017. Craig West from Britain-based Airliner World magazine said he suspected they would be delivered over many years. "This could be over a very long period of time, so that when the last batch begins to be delivered, the first batch are already so old that they are put out of service," he told AFP. The order topped this week's previous record Boeing order. The Chicago-based aircraft maker kicked off the Dubai Airshow with the announcement of an order from Emirates airline for 50 Boeing long-range 777-300ERs worth $18 billion at list price. At the same show Boeing also sealed a deal with Qatar Airways for two 777 freighters for $560 million. The Lion Air deal was likely a major victory for Boeing over European rival Airbus. Aviation Week reported earlier this month that Lion Air was weighing the US-made 737s against the Airbus 320. A strong domestic and regional airline but little known internationally, Lion Air is Indonesia's largest private carrier, owned by brothers Kusnan and Rusdi Kirana. In 2007, Lion Air was among several Indonesian airlines banned by the European Union for lax safety standards. The ban on flag carrier Garuda Indonesia and several other carriers was lifted in July 2009, but Lion Air still remains on the blacklist. The White House, anxious to promote the deal as a US success as the US endures 9.0 percent unemployment one year before Obama faces a stiff reelection challenge, said it would support 110,000 American jobs at Boeing and at suppliers throughout 43 American states. It highlighted other deals, some already announced, including the sale of eight Boeing 777-300ER jets to Singapore Airlines worth $2.4 billion, and an order for Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopters by Brunei's ministry of defence. Indonesia's Garuda Airlines meanwhile has signed a contract to buy 50 CFM56 General Electric engines worth $1.3 billion, the White House said. And Sikorsky will sell Brunei 12 Blackhawk S-70i helicopters worth $325 million, the White House said, adding that the total value of all the deals was $25 billion.