Air China agrees to buy five Boeing planes

SHANGHAI: Air China said on Tuesday it had agreed to buy five Boeing 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 Boeing 747-8 jets from the US aircraft maker, and expects to take delivery in 2014-2015. The combined list price for the planes 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 actually paid. Air China said the transaction would increase its fleet capacity by 1.3 billion available tonne kilometres, or around 6.6 percent. 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 more than 2,600 at present and increase its number of commercial airports to 220 from the current 175. Air China had 381 aircraft in operation as of the end of June 2010.