Dubai Aerospace in talks to place huge order for 400 jets

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, one of the world's largest aircraft lessors, is in talks to buy 400 jetliners from Airbus and Boeing and is prepared to expand its fleet through acquisition if talks fall through, its CE said Thursday. The move comes months after a leading US airline investor orchestrated a record deal last November for a group of airlines to buy over 400 planes from Airbus as economists project strong growth for air travel. Dubai government-controlled DAE is interested in buying single-aisle Airbus A320neo-family and Boeing 737 MAX planes following its acquisition last year of Dublin-based lessor AWAS, DAE CE Firoz Tarapore said. Any deal would not necessarily be evenly split between the two planemakers, Tarapore said, adding DAE was "nowhere near where we thought we would be" in finalising an order. "We are not happy with the price," he said. A 400 single-aisle jet order would be worth over US$40b at list prices.<br/>