Deal worth $4 billion

(AP) — Ryanair Holdings PLC said Thursday it has ordered 70 planes valued at $4 billion from Chicago-based Boeing Co. and has taken the option to buy 70 more, signaling that the budget airline is continuing its rapid growth across Europe.

The deal is also a coup for U.S. manufacturer Boeing in its long-running rivalry with European consortium Airbus to dominate the aerospace market.

Ryanair said most of the 70 firm orders for the Boeing 737-800 series of aircraft will be delivered between 2008 and 2012, allowing the carrier to maintain its planned double-digit growth during the latter years of this decade. The list price for the planes is $4 billion; the company declined to say exactly how much it paid for the planes.

The agreement, which is subject to shareholder approval, brings the total Ryanair order book with Boeing to 225 firm orders and 193 options.

Ryanair said it will have taken delivery of about 100 new Boeings - from an original order of 155 - by the end of 2005.

Ryanair Chairman David Bonderman said the airline considered the Boeing 737-800s - introduced into the Ryanair fleet in 1999 - to be the most efficient narrow-body short-haul aircraft available.

``The 737-800 has significantly reduced our unit operating costs and allowed us to reduce our air fares each year for the last five years,`` Bonderman said.

Mike Marino, chief executive of Aviation Partners Boeing, a Seattle-based joint venture, said the significance of the order ``is huge and it really pushes us over the top as far as critical mass goes,`` given Ryanair`s position as the largest low-cost carrier in Europe.

Boeing has staked its future on industry deregulation and smaller, long-range planes like its planned two-aisle 787 Dreamliner - scheduled to debut in 2008 - that will allow passengers increasingly to fly direct, spurning stopovers at hub airports.

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