(Reuters) – An aircraft leasing firm owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has placed an order for up to 30 Boeing 737 MAX jets, the U.S. planemaker said on Tuesday.
AviLease, owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has placed a firm purchase order for 20 737-8 jets, with an option to buy 10 more, Boeing said in a statement.
The Riyadh-based firm has 200 owned and managed aircraft and leases to 48 airlines globally.
Shares of the U.S. planemaker rose more than 2%. Its stock has risen about 10% in the past four sessions amid a de-escalation in the U.S.-China trade war and orders from British Airways-parent IAG.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg is among several corporate leaders accompanying U.S. President Donald Trump on his Middle East tour, starting with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, to drum up trillions of dollars in investments.
The White House said Saudi Arabia was set to invest $600 billion in the United States, including the largest defence sales agreement between the allies, worth nearly $142 billion.
Earlier in the day, Boeing official Michael Strosnider told Saudi state TV that the U.S. planemaker had been looking at bringing Saudi Arabia into the global supply chain for the F-15EX fighter jet.
Separately, Boeing delivered 45 commercial jets in April – including two for Chinese airlines – nearly twice the 24 airplanes it delivered last year and higher than March deliveries.
(Sorttom with Sameer Manerkar in Bengaluru;
