TWA has confirmed its order of 75 new aircraft from European consortium, the first ever, while Boeing, the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, secured a deal to deliver 50 planes.

TWA said it had placed orders to acquire 50 Boeing 717-200 planes, 50 of the very similar Airbus A318 plus a further 25 Airbus A320 planes, to the tune of £4.8bn.

The coup for Airbus comes after its August victory when it won a £3bn British Airways contract over Boeing.

TWA has also taken out options for a further 75 Airbus planes and 50 Boeing jets.

Boeing's battle

The decision is a bitter blow to Boeing which recently announced the loss of 48,000 jobs over the next two years.

Embattled Boeing could see its domination of the US market weakened

The move could also seriously undermine Boeing's domination of the US aircraft market.

American Airlines, Delta and Continental all have exclusive deals tying them to Boeing for several years.

The news was welcomed by British Aerospace which owns 20% of Airbus - the remainder owned by France's Aerospatiale, Spain's Casa and Dasa of Germany.

A spokesman for BA said: "BAe is clearly delighted to have been selected by one of America's biggest and most important airlines."