Monday, February 7 2005 18:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: US aircraft maker Boeing Corp has bid to sell 50 medium and long range aircrafts to Air India and hopes to bag one of the big orders valued between $ 6 billion to $ 7 billion, a top Boeing official said in Bangalore.

"It (the bid) was done in December. All the three aircraft are in the running for Air India and we feel that there are compelling advantages that will hopefully result in a sale here," Boeing vice president Dinesh A Keskar told reporters in Bangalore today (Feb 7, 2005) on the sidelines of the Aero India 2005 international seminar.

Boeing's European rival Airbus Industrie last December said it is also in the race for the Air India order expected to be one of the biggest aircraft deals in India, which both the majors are aggressive to win.

The 50 aircraft deal includes 35 firm sales and option to buy 15 more by Air India, he said.

Boeing has offered twenty 220 to 250 seater 787 aircraft, ten 380 seater 777-300 ER and five 250 seater 777-200R for the firm sales, while the options are seven 787's, three 777-300 ER and three 777-200 LR, Keskar said.

"The order value is significantly high somewhere between $ 6 billion to $ 7 billion, when you include both the firm and option sales," he said.

Boeing has not made headway in the Indian market losing out to rival Airbus for the Indian Airlines, Air Deccan and Kingfisher Airline orders, but has a strong supporter in Jet and Sahara airways. "We haven't really done well here, but with Jet, Sahara and new players we are in the game," he said.