Air China to buy five of Boeing’s new 747s

Air China said yesterday it had agreed to buy five of Boeing’s new 747-8 passenger planes with a combined list price of $1.54 billion, as it expands its fleet to meet growing demand.

The leading state-owned carrier said it would acquire five of the wide-bodied 747-8 aircraft and expects to take delivery in 2014-2015.

The combined list price was $1.54 billion, but Boeing had granted “significant price concessions”, Air China said in a statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, without disclosing what it is actually paying.

“The transaction will reinforce the company’s market share in the international market, and will also increase frequency of flights for a number of international routes,” the carrier said.

Air China said the purchase would increase its fleet capacity by 6.6 per cent, or 1.3 billion available tonne kilometres - a standard industry measure - from 19.7 billion at the end of last year.

The airline had 381 aircraft in operation as of the end of June 2010.

Air China’s new purchase means Boeing has received orders for 112 of the 747-8 aircraft, including the 747-8 Intercontinental and its cargo version the 747-8 Freighter, Wang Yukui, a spokesman for Boeing China, said.

China plans to invest more than 1.5 trillion yuan ($230 billion) in its aviation industry over the next five years to meet surging demand, Li Jiaxiang, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said last month.

The country aims to expand its aircraft fleet to more than 4,500 planes by 2015 from over 2,600 at present and increase its number of commercial airports to 220 from the current 175.

Air China is the third carrier to sign up for the 747-8 Intercontinental, after German flag carrier Lufthansa, which ordered 20 in 2006, and Korean Air, which bought five in late 2009.

“Air China has become one of the fastest growing airlines in the world and today is one of the world’s largest carriers,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ sales and marketing vice president Marlin Dailey said in a separate statement.

Boeing unveiled the new 747-8 Intercontinental, or the passenger version of Boeing’s 747-8 family, only in February. First delivery of the jumbo jet is scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year.

The jumbo jet is nearly six metres longer than the existing 747-400 and will use the same fuel-efficient General Electric engines that power the coming 787 Dreamliner.

It will seat 467 passengers in a typical three-class configuration, up from 416 in an older version but less than the 550 for a typical Airbus A380. It also offers 26 per cent more cargo volume than the 747-400.