(AFP) – Jan 30, 2008

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's All Nippon Airways plans to spend about 600 billion yen (5.6 billion dollars) on fuel-efficient jets and other equipment and facilities over the next four years, a spokesman said Thursday.

ANA will buy about 60 new fuel-efficient jets from US giant Boeing by March 2012 amid soaring oil prices, said spokesman Rob Henderson.

But the orders are not new and have already been announced, he added.

ANA will buy 28 Boeing 737-700s and 737-800s, 26 midsize Boeing 787s, and five large 777-300s, he said.

"We are looking at this as part of our long-term equipment investment that spans many years," Henderson said.

He said the new aircraft were expected to be about 20 percent more fuel-efficient than older models and that ANA plans to stop using older planes to try to reduce the burden of soaring fuel costs.

ANA has ordered a total of 50 of the next-generation 787 'Dreamliner'. It had planned to receive the first in early 2008 and fly them in time for the Beijing Olympics, but delivery has been repeatedly delayed.

Deliveries are now expected to begin in early 2009, rather than late 2008, Boeing said earlier this month.

Japanese carriers buy almost exclusively from Boeing, shunning European rival Airbus.

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