China Eastern orders 45 Boeing 737s, cancels 787 orders

Reuters: China Eastern Airlines has ordered 45 Boeing Co 737s and scrapped an order for 24 787 Dreamliners, the planemaker said on Thursday.

The second-largest planemaker after rival Airbus also said it took an order for two Dreamliners from Air New Zealand. Boeing also reduced its net 737 orders by two, but did not say which customer canceled the orders.

The Dreamliner is new lightweight carbon-composite aircraft. The plane is about three years behind its original development and production schedule. Boeing has taken orders for more than 800 Dreamliners.

The deals bring Boeing’s net orders to 406 commercial planes for this year.