US aviation giant Boeing said it had clinched an order from Xiamen Airlines for 10 737-800 medium-haul planes to serve China's booming domestic air market.

Boeing said that with the order from Xiamen, a unit of the country's biggest carrier China Southern Airlines, total orders for the 737 fleet have now surpassed 6,000.

Xiamen will take delivery of the 737-800s from mid-2006, Boeing said in a statement.

No list price was given for the planes, which can seat up to 189 passengers.

But Xiamen said in May -- when it foresaw buying 15 of the planes -- that they sold for 61.5 million to 69.5 million dollars at list prices.

"This order allows us to simplify our fleet with the most cost-efficient and superior-performance airplane in its class," Xiamen Airlines president Yang Guanghua said in the Boeing statement.

"The Boeing 737 will help us meet our goal of reducing operating costs and increasing return on investment for our shareholders," he added.

China is the world's fastest growing major aviation market, pitting Boeing in a see-saw struggle against its European arch-rival Airbus.

China signed its biggest-ever deal with Airbus this month, ordering 150 mid-range planes worth a total of nearly 10 billion dollars at list prices.

Last month, Boeing signed a four-billion-dollar deal to supply 70 737 aircraft to eight Chinese airlines. In January, Boeing said it was selling 60 787 passenger jets to China for 7.2 billion dollars.

In the next two decades, Airbus sees potential sales to China of some 1,600 aircraft, while Boeing, which currently has a 62 percent market share, predicts more than 2,000.

(China Daily via AFP December 22, 2005)