Boeing lands giant $22bn 737 order

BOEING unveiled the biggest commercial order in its history yesterday, a $21.7 billion (£13.8bn) contract for the American aircraft giant to supply 230 short‑haul 737 jets to Indonesia’s flag‑carrier, Lion Air.

The order was timed to coincide with President Barack Obama winding up his tour of the Asia‑Pacific region. Aviation analysts said the deal was a shot in the arm for Boeing’s efforts to develop an improved version of its best-selling 737 to compete with a model produced by its arch‑European rival, Airbus.

The Lion Air deal includes orders for 29 “next-generation” 737-900 extended range planes and 201 of Boeing’s new “737 Max”, an updated version of the model.

Obama, under pressure to bring down a US employment rate of 9 per cent, attended a signing ceremony for the order in Indonesia. The White House put out an announcement saying the deal would support more than 110,000 jobs at Boeing and its American suppliers.

The president is seeking to increase American exports to the Asia-Pacific region to offset weakness in Europe. The Lion Air deal includes options for a further 150 aircraft valued at $14bn, bringing the potential total value to more than $35bn.

Boeing said the order would be its largest “by both dollar volume and total number of planes” and that it had plans to raise production to meet growing customer demand that would eventually add an unspecified number of jobs at the group.