L.A. Leasing Firm Wants to Buy 5 Airbus ‘Superjumbo’ Airliners

Airbus Industrie moved a step closer to building the world’s largest passenger plane after it said Monday that Los Angeles-based International Lease Finance Corp. wants five of its A3XX superjumbos, which would be bigger than Boeing Co.’s 747.

International Lease, the world’s No. 2 airplane-leasing company, thinks its customers--which are some of the biggest airlines--need the A3XX to serve busy Asian hub airports, said John Leahy, Airbus’ vice president for commercial sales. The European plane maker now has pledges for 32 of the planes and expects to reach the threshold of 50 needed to commit to production “very readily,” he said.

Airbus’s supervisory board is expected to decide this week whether to sell the plane, which would seat at least 550 passengers, compared with 416 in standard configurations of Boeing’s 747.

The A3XX will cost $12 billion to develop and have a price tag of $230 million per plane.

Boeing said it will be ready with a larger version of the 747 that would be cheaper to build, purchase and operate than the A3XX “superjumbo.” The company is likely to begin selling the new 747 model this year, Boeing Chairman Phil Condit said Monday.

Boeing shares fell 94 cents to close at $38.94 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The A3XX has been closely watched by Boeing investors because it would end the Seattle-based company’s 30-year monopoly on jetliners seating more than 400. The rivalry could hurt the 747’s sales, but some analysts aren’t convinced there is strong demand for the A3XX.

A spokeswoman for International Lease, a unit of American International Group Inc., declined to comment.