Las Vegas-based airline to buy 20 Boeing 7E7-8s and 27 737-800s = The Associated Press E-mail this article = Print this article = Search archive = Most read articles = Most e-mailed articles = = SEATTLE =97 Primaris Airlines Inc. has announced plans to buy 20 Boeing 7= E7-8 Dreamliners and 20 737-800s, a deal worth $3.8 billion at list price= s, the new low-cost business carrier and The Boeing Co. announced today. According to a joint news release, Primaris, based in Las Vegas, also agr= eed to take options for 25 additional 737-800s and 15 7E7-8s, Boeing's ne= west model, which is scheduled to go into production in 2006. Primaris pl= ans to outfit the 737s with 94 seats and the 7E7s with about 150 seats, b= oth in an all-business configuration. The deal would be the biggest for the Dreamliner since a launch order of = 50 planes from All Nippon Airways in April. Primaris also is the first U.= S. airline to say it will buy the plane. Aerospace analyst Paul Nisbet of JSA Research said it wasn't surprising t= hat the first U.S. order is coming from a discount carrier, since many of= the traditional U.S. airlines are in such bad financial shape. "The legacy airlines are certainly not anywhere near capable of paying fo= r new aircraft =97 in fact they're shrinking their operations quite drast= ically =97 so it does leave you with the discount airlines as your only c= ustomers in the United States," he said. According to the news release, Boeing, based in Chicago, and Primaris exp= ect to complete contract negotiations by the end of the year. Primaris is= planning to begin service focusing on business travel on domestic routes= , like Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Chicago, next year and on= international routes in 2006. The first 20 737s are for delivery between 2007 and 2010 and the 7E7s bet= ween 2010 and 2013. The 737s are to be equipped with CFM56-7B engines and= an engine choice for the 7E7s will be made over the next month, Primaris= said. Battling to regain world supremacy in commercial jet manufacturing from A= irbus, Boeing executives have forecast 200 orders for the new 7E7 this ye= ar. Boeing has logged 52 firm orders for the 7E7, including the 50-plane laun= ch order from All Nippon Airways. Besides Primaris, it is in negotiations= to sell 10 more airplanes to two air charter carriers, Blue Panorama of = Italy and First Choice Airways of the United Kingdom. Because of the airlines' woes, Nisbet said he doesn't expect Boeing to me= et the 200-plane goal. Also, he said negotiations appear to be taking lon= ger than expected with some carriers, perhaps because Airbus is quietly p= itching a new model that would compete more closely with the 7E7. Airbus = officials have declined to confirm or deny they are considering a new mod= el. Airlines typically receive substantial discounts from list prices on larg= e orders, especially for new models when the manufacturer is eager to sho= w demand quickly. = = = = = "Primaris is the first low-cost carrier to select the 7E7 Dreamliner. Its= decision validates the 7E7 Dreamliner as a catalyst for new business mod= els," said Michael B. Bair, head of the 7E7 program. Another customer for the new twin-engine plane is Air New Zealand, a long= -haul airline. Primaris, newly certified as a commercial airline, currently flies Boeing= 757s in charter service. The chairman of the company is Jake Garn, a for= mer U.S. senator from Utah who once flew aboard the Space Shuttle. Shares in Boeing were up 65 cents to $49.61 in mid-afternoon trading on t= he New York Stock Exchange. Roger EWROPS