China Aviation Supplies Import & Export Group (CASIEG) and six Chinese airlines signed a frame agreement Friday with the Boeing Company to buy 60 new 7E7 Dreamliners with a list price of US$7.2 billion.

This is the biggest agreement in terms of aircraft quantity and value that Chinese airlines have ever signed, according to officials from the CASIEG and six Chinese airlines attending a signing ceremony in Washington D.C..

It is another example showing the broad prospect of Sino-US economic and trade cooperation that is mutually beneficial, they said.

The six airlines include Air China, China Eastern Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Hainan Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.

Each carrier is scheduled to receive its first 7E7 in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Boeing said in a statement.

As members of the 7E7 launch customer team, the statement said that the six Chinese carriers will be critical partners in developing the 7E7 family of airplanes.

The US company on Friday gave the 7E7 Dreamliner an official model designation number of 787. The airplane now will be known as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

The 787 was launched in April last year with an order of 50 from Japan's All Nippon Airways. The agreement on Friday brings the total number of announced orders and commitments for the 787 to 186 airplanes, Boeing said.

It said that production of the 787 will begin in 2006. First flight is expected in 2007 with certification, delivery and entry into service in 2008.

The basic Dreamliner model will carry about 217 passengers on routes of up to 15,700 km.

And Dreamliner will have a cruising speed of Mach 0.85 (1,050 km per hour) and use 20 percent less fuel than any other plane of its size through engine improvements and the use of lighter composite metals for structure, according to Boeing.

(Xinhua News Agency January 29, 2005)