Korean Air makes airline’s biggest-ever Boeing jet order amid Trump-Lee summit
By David Shepardson
Washington (Reuters) -Korean Air announced an order of $ 50 billion for 103 Boeing Airplanes and Ge Aerospace engines on Monday and coincided with his visit to Washington, President of South Korea President Lee Jae Myung.
The largest in the history of the Korean air carrier, the order contains a mixture of 787, 777 and 737 Boeing aircraft worth approximately 36.5 billion dollars.
Reuters first reported the agreement early on Monday.
Korea Air also announced a separate agreement on the acquisition and maintenance of GE and $ 13.7 billion with GE with GE.
Many countries that negotiate trade agreements with Trump management have announced or planned important Boeing aircraft orders. Boeing has won a series of big orders in recent months.
Korean Air CEO Cho Won-Tae, who recently visited one of Boeing’s US factories, said on Monday that Reuters said that the record-breaking order will help expand the largest Korean airline to the US, Latin America and South American destinations.
Cho said that about half of the new order of the 103 plane will be 737 maximum 10 aircraft and the rest would be a mixture of 777-9 and 787 aircraft. Approximately 80% of the new Boeing aircraft would replace existing aircraft in the fleet.
The Minister said the company believes in Boeing, despite the previous problems of the planner.
In addition to the GE agreement, the Boeing agreement is worth 36.2 billion dollars in the South Korean Ministry of Industry.
Boeing said that the agreement will help Korea Air’s operations with Asiana Airlines, the largest airline company last year.
“As Korean air goes to a larger united carrier, we are determined to support the growth of the airline with one of the most productive fleets in the world,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. He said.
Trade Secretary Howard Lutnick said Maeing and Ge DEal will increase US aviation exports.
“The world acknowledges that our planes are the most advanced in the world, and this administration is determined to reshape forward production works for the Americans,” Lutnick said.
In March, the South Korean Ministry of Industry said that Korea Air will soon make an agreement of $ 32.7 billion for New Boeing and GE engines. Last year, Korea Air said that he would order 20 777-9 and 20 787-10 aircraft from Boeing and order with additional 10 aircraft options. The new order is separate from this purchase.
Korea Air, the founding member of the Skyteam Airline Alliance, was founded in 1969 by South Korea Holding Hanjin Kal.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Stephen Coates)
