Air China signs deal to purchase 60 Boeing B737 aircraft

BEIJING (Reuters) - Air China Ltd <601111.SS>, the country's flag carrier, said Monday it signed an agreement to order 60 Boeing B737 planes for a total price of $5.9 billion. The aircraft are to be delivered between 2016 and 2020 per the agreement, which was disclosed Monday in a Air China regulatory filing. The order comes four months after Boeing Co won an order for 80 737 planes from Singapore-based BOC Aviation. Boeing said in September it expects China to need more than 6,020 aircraft in the next 20 years, an 8 percent rise over last year's two-decade estimate, as growing overseas leisure travel drives demand. That same month Boeing delivered the first of seven 747-8 Intercontinental jumbo jets to Air China, which was one of the few carriers to order the fuel efficient aircraft. (Reporting by Twinnie Su and Gerry Shih, editing by Louise Heavens)