BOC Aviation buys US$8.8b worth of jets

[SINGAPORE] BOC Aviation Pte is buying US$8.8 billion of Boeing Co jets, the leasing company's biggest order ever, in a bet on airlines' demand for new planes to serve Asia's air-travel boom.

"We want to be in the younger end of the market," BOC aviation managing director Robert Martin said on Monday. "We want the most fuel-efficient planes."

Most of the 82-plane purchase is from Boeing's top-selling 737 family, split between 50 of the upgraded Max 8 and 30 of the current -800 version, Singapore-based BOC Aviation said. BOC Aviation, a unit of Bank of China Ltd, also will take two wide-body 777s.