International aircraft major Boeing on Tuesday welcomed the Congress-led government's move to have a relook at the Indian Airlines' plans to order 43 aircraft from the European consortium Airbus Industries.

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Boeing also announced a reduction of Rs 700 crore (Rs 7 billion) on its rival's bid to pitch for 737-700 and 737-800 aircraft.

"We hope to get a fair and transparent evaluation," Dinesh Keskar, vice president, sales, Boeing, told newsmen in New Delhi.

He also offered a "fair price" if Air-India opted for leasing out of three more Jumbo 747-400 aircraft to augment its fleet on a short-term basis.

The Boeing executive said it was "very strange" that the Indian Airlines had to opt for the Airbus aircraft, when Air-India had decided to go in for 737-800 aircraft for its low-cost no-frills subsidiary, which was about to be launched.

Keskar said that Indian Airlines was going by the presentations made to it three years ago, and since then the aircraft technology had undergone tremendous change with Boeing introducing the winglet technology which was proving very fuel-efficient in its 737-800 range of aircraft.

He said Air-India, like other major airlines, would soon have to opt for flying non-stop to destinations in the United States and Canada for which it would have to soon opt for long range carriers like the Boeing 777-200 or Airbus A340-500.

He said the 777-200 besides offering more seats also had a better payload carrying capacity and would help India capture the "goldmine market of flying to places like San Francisco and Los Angeles non stop."