Aircraft manufacturer Boeing is negotiating with the country's two major carriers Air India and Jet Airways [Get Quote] for 60 wide-bodied aircraft.

The combined deals are expected to be valued at $15 billion. Most of these aircraft are being bought for use on international routes.

"Airlines in India like Jet Airways and Air India have firm orders with Boeing for delivery till the year 2011. Now they are planning beyond that in view of expected market growth," said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice-president (sales), Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Air India is studying how many aircraft it requires and Jet Airways is also planning more wide-bodied aircraft to service the expansion of its international network.

Said S Venkat, executive director (finance), Air India, "The airline will finalise the orders it is going to place with aircraft manufacturers in the next three months. A high-level committee set up to examine the total number of aircraft required beyond 2011 will submit a growth projection and a Request for Proposal has already been made."

Jet Airways Executive Director Saroj Datta said: "We will take a final decision on the new aircraft only after looking at the market situation."

In its growth forecast for the domestic aviation sector, the Seattle-headquartered Boeing put aircraft requirement at 911 worth $86 billion for the next 20 years.

Air India has already contracted orders for 43 wide-bodied aircraft from Boeing which will be completed by 2011 and will be used to replace the older aircraft with the carrier. It has also ordered 27 787 'Dreamliners'. The airline's total orderbook with Boeing, including narrow-bodied aircraft, is 68 aircraft valued at $11 billion.

Boeing also has an order to deliver 43 wide-bodied aircraft to Jet Airways till 2012, of which 12 will be Dreamliners.

Boeing also supplies to SpiceJet but these are narrow-bodied aircraft.

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