Chinese Airline Orders Three Boeing 747 Jumbo Jets

China’s state-run international airline ordered three Boeing 747s in the first major order given to the U.S. airplane maker this year, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday.

Xinhua did not put a price on the contract for the 747-400s signed in Beijing on July 12 by Boeing, Air China and the Aviation Materials Export Import Co.

Boeing planes make up 70 percent of the western-made aircraft flown by China’s fast-growing commercial carriers.

But last month, Boeing president Phil Condit complained that tense relations between Washington and Beijing was costing the company business.

In the spring, China ordered $1.5 billion worth of planes from Europe’s Airbus Industrie. Two days before the latest deal was struck, China chose a consortium led by British Aerospace and Aerospatiale of France as partners to build a 100-seat jetliner.

News reports previously valued that deal at $2 billion.

Boeing and American airplane maker McDonnell Douglas had both expressed interest in the 100-seat project but knew China was favoring European bidders.

The 747-400s, which can hold as many as 404 passengers, will be used on Air China routes between Europe and America, Xinhua said.

The planes are due for delivery in May and August of next year and July 1998.