Boeing's manager for international communications (Europe Russia Commercial Airplanes Group) Lewis B Brinson IV told The Financial Express that the company was currently in the process of developing these high range newer versions that would be highly fuel efficient and sleek. "They will be large aircraft that fly more nautical miles for a longer range with a very large fuel capacity," he said. However, he did not disclose any other technical details.

The new aircraft, targeted primarily at Asian and Middle East markets, would be soon available to carriers on order basis. "These regions including India are a potential market for our 747-400 series of aircraft. Therefore, we anticipate a significant share of business originating from here for our new versions," Mr Brinson said.

According to him, the company was trying to cash in on India's `frequency potential' and its "strong in domestic route possibilities"."Air travel demand has grown tremendously in the country with the software boom. This situation will force Indian airline operators to acquire or lease more airplanes," he said.

The fleet expansion activities of Air-India, Indian Airlines, Air-Sahara and Jet Airways would include the acquisition of medium and large aircraft from the Boeing 777 and Boeing 747 stables. Jet Airways currently operates a fleet of 27 Boeing 737s while Air Sahara has a fleet of nine.

Boeing has set a business target to deliver 530 aircraft each during calendar 2001 and 2002. During 2000, it delivered 489 commercial airplanes against the target of 490.