ILFC, KLM Brighten Boeing's Order Book By Chris Genna Farnborough, England - Boeing kicked off the Farnborough Air Show Monday by announcing orders worth $1.1 billion, including 13 next-generation 737s, officially making the 737-600 through –900 the fastest selling commercial airplane program in history, Boeing says. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines ordered four 737-900s in a deal worth about $230 million, and Boeing confirmed an order by International Lease Finance Corp. for 17 jetliners – nine 737-800s, six 757-200s, one extended-range 767-300ER, and one 777-200ER. The total value of the ILFC order is $900 million, Boeing spokesman Mark Hooper said. The order allows ILFC to fill "specific near-term customer requirements," ILFC president and CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy said in a prepared statement, as well as "strengthening our deliveries in the 2001-2005 time frame, a period we believe will be quite strong for the industry." ILFC will get the 777 and the first of the 757s in 1999; the first of the 737s and the 777 will be delivered in 2001, Hooper said. John Hayhurst, Boeing vice president of sales for the Americas, called the ILFC order a "significant milestone." But that word might have been better applied to the KLM order, the first for 737-900s from a European carrier. KLM faces "fierce competition from all fronts," said airline President and CEO Leo van Wijk; and the –900, "because of its low operating cost, high reliability and environmental benefits will allow us to maintain our mission of offering a high-quality product at a competitive price." Van Wijk's prepared statement also cited the "high commonality with our 737-800." The airline operates 36 737-300s and -400s and has announced orders for eight 737-800s. The –900, which hasn't yet flown, is stretched to carry three more rows of seats – 18 more economy-class passengers – than the -800 Rene Kalmann, vice president of fleet development for KLM said its 737-900s will seat 170 passengers in KLM's two-class configuration, including a five-abreast business class, when they're delivered starting in mid-2001. The carrier will use the planes on high-density European routes that can use the –900' extra passenger capacity, such as flights out of London's Heathrow Airport, Paris, and possibly Milan. Tom Basacchi, Boeing vice president of sales for Europe and Russia, said the KLM order is important to Boeing because KLM is an all-Boeing customer, and because it inaugurates –900 sales in Europe. So far, Boeing has announced 40 orders for the stretched 737, most of those from launch customer Alaska Airlines. The KLM order put next-generation 737 orders over the 1,000 milestone, Hooper said. Together, the two new orders mean Boeing has sold 1,012 next-generation 737s since the program was launched in November 1993, and the total for all 737s to more than 4,000.