BOC places big Boeing order

Bank of China's aircraft leasing subsidiary, Singapore-based BOC Aviation, announced an order for 82 Boeing planes with a listed value of $8.8 billion. It includes 50 737 MAX 8s, 30 737-800s and two 777-300ERs. The announcement came less than six weeks after the company ordered 43 A320s from Airbus at the Farnborough International Airshow. BOC Aviation, the world's fourth largest by fleet value, currently has 251 planes, mostly B737 and A320 family aircraft with an average age of less than four years. (Source: South China Morning Post, 08/26/14) Meanwhile, French aerospace group Safran said BOC Aviation placed an engine order worth an estimated $2 billion with CFM International, a joint venture between Safran and General Electric. The order is for 100 LEAP-1B engines to power 50 new 737 Max 8 aircraft and 60 CFM56-7BE engines to power 30 next generation 737s. (Source: Reuters, 08/25/14) Gulf Coast connections: Boeing has operations in New Orleans and Fort Walton Beach, Fla.; Airbus is building an A320 final assembly line in Mobile, Ala., where Safran has an engineering center; GE Aviation has engine parts plants near Hattiesburg, Miss., and Auburn, Ala.