Boeing-Airbus tussle hots up

The Israeli state airline, El Al, has announced it will order five Boeing Seven-three-seven airliners worth two-hundred-million dollars, rather than -- as expected -- placing its first order for European Airbus jets.

Correspondents say El Al came under strong pressure from the United States and Israeli governments not to abandon Boeing, which until now had provided all its planes.

But in another round of the ever-fiercer transatlantic battle over orders, Swissair says it will spend one-and-a-half billion dollars with Airbus, to phase out its present Boeing and McDonnell-Douglas long-range jets.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service