Royal Jordanian to add 12 Boeing 787s

Chicago -- Royal Jordanian Airlines has agreed to buy or lease as many as 12 midsize Boeing 787 wide-body Dreamliner jets, Boeing Co. of Chicago said Tuesday.

Terms were not disclosed.

The airline, based in Amman, Jordan, agreed to buy two aircraft and confirm whether it would purchase two more "before the end of the year," Boeing said.

The carrier also intends to lease eight additional 787s, Air Transport World reported Tuesday.

Royal Jordanian will use the 787 "as the core airplane for its international long-haul service," said Lee Monson, Boeing Commercial Airplane's vice president of sales for the Middle East and Africa.

The airline flies to Europe, North America, Africa and Asia.

The first 787s will join the carrier's fleet in 2010, Boeing said.

Royal Jordanian -- which transported 161,000 passengers in March, a 23 percent increase from a year earlier -- became part of the oneworld air alliance April 1, the first Arab airline to join any worldwide air alliance.

The Dreamliner will carry between 210 and 330 passengers, depending on the seating configuration, and is the first major commercial jet to use composite material for most of its construction.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.