Boeing, Xiamen Airlines Identify 25-Airplane Next-Generation 737 Order

Boeing [NYSE: BA] and Xiamen Airlines today identified the Xiamen, China-based carrier as the customer for 25 Next-Generation 737-800s listed as unidentified on Boeing’s Orders & Deliveries Web site in early August. The order is worth $1.9 billion at 2007 average list prices.

“This order of 25 737-800s plus 10 purchase rights allows us to simplify our fleet with the most cost-efficient and superior-performance airplane in its class,” said Yang Guanghua, president, Xiamen Airlines. “The Boeing 737 will help us meet our goal of reducing operating costs and increasing return on investment for our shareholders. Additionally, with their passenger-pleasing interior, the new 737s will carry our customers in utmost comfort on all our domestic routes.”

Boeing and Xiamen Airlines today also celebrated the delivery of a 737-800 which will enter Xiamen Airlines’ all-Boeing fleet. In December 2005, Xiamen set a milestone when its order for 10 737-800s took the 737 family past the historic 6000th order mark. The airplane delivered today is one of the 10 ordered in 2005.

“Our commitment to Xiamen Airlines and the Chinese aviation industry dates back 35 years,” said Rob Laird, vice president of Sales - Greater China, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “Today marks another great milestone in our partnership with Xiamen Airlines as it embarks on its strategic fleet expansion plan.”

The 737-800 is the most popular member of the Next-Generation 737 family, with more than 2,200 airplanes ordered. The 737-800’s market success is confirmed by air finance investors, who consistently rank it as the most preferred airplane due to its wide market base, superior performance efficiency and lowest operating costs in its class.

As of the end of July, total orders for all 737 airplanes stood at 7,153 while total orders for Next-Generation 737s were 4,021. Boeing has unfilled Next-Generation 737 orders for 1,690 airplanes worth more than $120 billion at current list prices.