Business news with words aircraft+billion. 60 or more news.

What happened in 2007 Wichita's already solid $20 billion economy just kept getting stronger through the year. Aircraft companies set records for orders and deliveries. Agriculture, and oil and gas surged on record prices. Most other local sectors benefited. Even housing and construction sectors held up well, as the rest of the nation suffered. The local unemployment rate fell from 4.3 to 3.7 percent in the past 12 months. Roughly 11,000 more people are working now than last year. Opportunities in 2008

Boeing will buy more than $1 billion of titanium components from Russia's OAO VSMPO-Avisma as it seeks to make lighter aircraft. Boeing and VSMPO, the world's biggest titanium producer, signed an accord for supplies from 2011 through 2015, said Sergei Kravchenko, the head of Chicago-based Boeing's operations in Russia. It's part of the $27 billion Boeing plans to spend in Russia over the next 30 years, he said. "I'd be insincere if I said that troubled U.S.-Russia relations have not had an impact on our business, but I believe such huge investments are, in some way, bridging the political gap," Kravchenko said. The U.S. last year imposed sanctions on a Russian aircraft maker and arms exporter after alleging they breached non-proliferation legislation. Boeing has made titanium the single biggest material in its latest aircraft as rising oil prices encourage airlines to buy lighter plane models, which use less fuel. The U.S. manufacturer's latest, 20-ton 787 Dreamliner is almost 20 percent titanium and relies on VSMPO for 56 components, Kravchenko said. VSMPO relies on Boeing for 29 percent of its business.

The U.S. Air Force must provide a better explanation for why it gave Boeing Co. a $1.1 billion contract to maintain KC-135 tanker aircraft, the Government Accountability Office said, upholding part of a protest from rival bidder Pemco Aviation Group Inc.

U.S. aircraft maker Boeing (BA) and Russia's OAO VSMPO-Avisma signed a contract worth more than $1 billion to provide titanium ...

CHINA unveiled its first passenger jet this afternoon. China Aviation Industry Corp I, the nation's biggest plane maker, showcased its first ARJ21 or Flying Phoenix regional jet at the Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Factory today. The mid-size, short-haul airliner's maiden flight is scheduled for March 2008 and its producer and designer, China Aviation Industry Corp I, plans to deliver the planes to customers by September 2009. The jet, which can seat 90 passengers, has received 71 orders from domestic airlines and aircraft leasing companies. The ARJ project, which dates back to early 2005, is seen as a precursor to China building its own jumbo jets. Development costs totaled six billion yuan for the Flying Phoenix. The ARJ21 will share profits with Canada-based Bombardier Inc and Brazil-based Embraer SA in the world's fastest-growing aviation market.

BLUESCOPE Steel Ltd, Australia's largest steelmaker, has agreed to buy four US building material businesses for US$730 million, betting commercial construction demand will defy a worsening homebuilding slump. The acquisition will boost earnings from 2009, BlueScope said yesterday in a statement. The Melbourne-based company bought the businesses from Luxembourg-based Ternium SA to become North America's second-biggest supplier of ready-to-assemble buildings used as schools, barns and aircraft hangers. The purchase will double BlueScope's sales in the US$157 billion US commercial and industrial building market, adding 23 plants from California to North Carolina. The US economy grew at the fastest annual rate in four years in the third quarter as commercial construction increased, tempering a drop in housing. "You have to be big to be efficient, successful and the leader in the market and that's what they are trying to do," Lucinda Chan, head of Asian business at

QANTAS has ordered 31 next-generation 737-800 single-aisle planes, worth about $US2.3 billion ($2.68 billion), aircraft maker Boeing announced overnight.

CHINA Eastern Airlines Corp, the nation's third-largest carrier, said it is in talks to buy 40 Boeing Co 737 planes and has applied to the government for 40 Airbus SAS A320s to expand its fleet. The planned purchases may help expand the Shanghai-based carrier's fleet by 53 percent to 322 aircraft in 2010 from the current 210, Zhang Jing, a China Eastern spokeswoman, said yesterday, confirming a Reuters report. Singapore Airlines Ltd and parent Temasek Holdings Pte plan to buy a 24-percent stake in China Eastern for HK$7.16 billion (US$918 million), cutting the carrier's debt and easing its "most difficult" period, Chairman Li Fenghua said last week. The cash infusion may help the company pay for the planes to compete with Air China Ltd, according to Bloomberg News. "Carriers are queuing up to buy planes as demand grows," said Ma Ying, an analyst at Haitong Securities Co in Shanghai. "China Eastern's stake sale will enable it to afford the

BOC Aviation, Bank of China Ltd's aircraft-leasing unit, aims to buy up to US$2 billion worth of planes that airlines have ordered and are unable to finance with bank loans because of the global credit squeeze. Asia's biggest lessor plans to more than double aircraft purchases from airlines next year from the US$700 million it bought in 2007, according to Chief Executive Officer Robert Martin yesterday. The Singapore-based company received a US$1-billion credit facility, its largest loan, from Bank of China this month at a rate lower than it would get from other banks, he said. "With issues that are hitting financiers in Europe and US related to subprime, we are now seeing a slowing down of liquidity growth in Asia as well," Martin said yesterday, according to Bloomberg News. "With a financing market that is going to be tighter, this is the right time for us to go back to the sale and leaseback market." A surge in borrowing costs that prompted the US

(Reuters) -- Boeing Co. said on Friday aircraft leasing company AWAS has placed an order for 31 single-aisle 737 planes worth about $2.3 billion at list prices. Dublin-based AWAS, one of the world's largest second-tier plane leasing companies, has a fleet of about 315 aircraft, which it leases ...

The NACIL raised $1 billion through External Commercial Borrowings(ECBs) to get aircraft on lease and hire-purchase basis, according to a data released by the Reserve Bank on Wednesday. The debt raised by NACIL under the approval route will have to be repaid over a period of 13 years and three months.

Airbus SAS, the world's largest commercial aircraft maker, won a commitment from China Airlines to buy 14 A350-900 planes valued at US$3.25 billion at list price.

Northrop Grumman said it will compete as the main contractor for the Air Force's KC-10/KDC-10 aircraft program, a nine-year contract worth as much as $3.8 billion.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Southwest Airlines Co. said Tuesday that its November traffic rose to 5.7 billion revenue passenger miles from 5.6 billion a year ago. A revenue passenger mile is one paying passenger flown one mile. Capacity increased 6.4% to 8.3 billion available seat miles from the year-earlier 7.8 billion. The load factor, or percentage of seats filled, fell to 69.3% from 71.8% a year earlier. The carrier also announced plans to reduce its 2008 fleet growth to five to 10 aircraft, for a year-over-year capacity increase of about 4% to 5%. In a company press release, CEO Gary Kelly cited concerns "about growing evidence of slowing economic growth that would inevitably affect passenger demand, coupled with a surge in energy prices." Shares of Southwest closed Monday at $13.74.

INDUSTRIAL and Commercial Bank of China today in Tianjin opened the country's first leasing firm wholly owned by a domestic bank. ICBC Financial Leasing Ltd, registered in Binhai District in Tianjin with a capital of two billion yuan (US$271 million), will offer aircraft and ship financing services, said Yang Kaisheng, director of the country's biggest lender. The bank signed cooperation agreements with China National Aviation Holding Company, COSCO Group, Hainan Airlines and a Canadian company at the opening ceremony. The commission has also given approval to Minsheng Bank, China Merchants Bank, Bank of Communications and China Construction Bank to enter the leasing business. The leasing business may help reduce strong demand for ships and planes as the country's economy continues to grow quickly. Over the past 10 years, China's demand for planes has doubled while about 90 percent of the financing for plane leases on the mainland are provided by foreign companies. The

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Inc. said Wednesday that its third-quarter net profit rose 23% to $91 million, or 5 cents a share, as it also named Pierre Beaudoin as its next president and CEO. Revenue for the quarter rose 24% to $4.23 billion, with both its aerospace and transportation units producing sustainable revenue growth and improved profitability, the company said. In a separate announcement, Bombardier said Pierre Beaudoin, currently head of the aerospace unit, will take over the role of CEO at its annual general meeting June 4. He will succeed Laurent Beaudoin, who returned to the company as CEO three years ago.

With Monday's order from China for 160 aircraft, Airbus has won three big contracts there in two years, compared with Boeing's one. The estimated $17 billion...

XI'AN Aircraft International Corp said today it had gained regulatory approval to issue shares to buy assets from its parent, taking a lead among domestic military industrial firms to conduct group listings. The green light came just two weeks after China unveiled new guidelines to encourage military-related companies to go public as a whole group and attract investments from listed firms and foreigners. Xi'an Aircraft said it had received the approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to conduct a private placement with as many as 10 investors, according to an exchange filing. The Shenzhen-listed aircraft maker had proposed to collect up to 6.6 billion yuan (US$890 million) selling shares at no lower than 9.18 yuan apiece. Its parent Xi'an Aircraft Industry (Group) Co will take at least 55 percent of the offering. Xi'an Aircraft Industry (Group) has planned to inject assets of civil aircraft manufacturing, research and development as well as services into the listed

AirAsia, Southeast Asia's largest budget carrier by fleet size, said Sunday it has agreed to buy 175 new fuel efficient A320 Airbus aircraft for at least US$10.5 billion.

There are few industries where the consequences of a weakening dollar and a stronger Euro are highlighted more clearly than in the aircraft manufacturing business. At current levels, Airbus/EADS is bleeding.