ANA orders 70 planes including 20 Boeing 777-9Xs

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's ANA <9202.T> placed its biggest ever order of 70 new planes, including 20 Boeing 777-9X wide-body jets in a move bringing relief to the U.S. planemaker which lost a major Japan Airlines <9201.T> order to rival Airbus last year.

ANA's 1.7 trillion yen ($16.62 billion) order includes six Boeing 777 aircraft and 14 medium-sized Boeing 787-9 aircraft, as well as 30 single-aisle jets from Airbus' A320 family.

ANA said the order was a response to an increasing number of passengers expected to visit Japan in the run-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Boeing's 777X was launched with record orders at the Dubai Airshow in November. The 777-9X, the largest of the variants, will carry 406 passengers and enter service in 2020. ANA said it expects delivery between fiscal year 2021 and 2027.

JAL's multi-billion dollar order of long-haul jets from Airbus rather than Boeing, announced in October, was a break from decades of tradition.

Boeing holds more than 80 percent of Japan's commercial aviation market thanks to strong links with Japanese suppliers and political ties between Tokyo and Washington. Delays to its 787 Dreamliner and its subsequent grounding after its batteries overheated, however, have tarnished its image.

($1 = 102.3100 Japanese Yen)

(Additional reporting by Maki Shiraki; Editing by Dominic Lau and Jeremy Laurence)

WhatsAppFacebookTwitterLinkedinBeloudBluesky