Shares of Brazil's Embraer soared after the world's fourth-largest aircraft maker said it would sell 100 regional jets to China's Hainan Airlines Co. for $2.7 billion.

Embraer said it will start delivering the 50 E145 and 50 larger E190 jets in 2007, and analysts described the order as a significant entry into the important Asian market for a company whose commercial jet sales have been largely stagnant in recent years.

This deal substantially raises the company's firm order backlog, which had been stuck at around $10 billion for some time.

The purchase from the state-owned HNA Group that owns Hainan raises Embraer's firm orders by about 25 percent to $13.6 billion, analysts estimated. It also means Embraer will deliver more planes than the 150 that had been predicted for 2007 and increase deliveries in 2008.

Embraer jet sales stalled in recent years as its main European and U.S. airline customers faced rising fuel costs, stiff competition and restrictions related to terrorist threats.

But the deal with Hainan shows that Embraer can sell in Asia.

The E145s will be manufactured at a plant in Harbin, China, that opened in 2003. Embraer will make the E190s at its factory in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil.

China's government in 2002 committed to buy planes from Embraer in return for a promise by Embraer to build a plant in China.

Source:佚名