AEROSPACE

Six Boeing 777s Sold to Gulf Air: The flag carrier of four Persian Gulf states has agreed to buy the jets, which will be delivered between 1998 and 2000, and has signed an option to buy another six of the long-range airliners after 2000. Neither Boeing nor Gulf Air, which is controlled by Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar, would put a value on the sale, but the 12-jet deal is likely to be worth between $1.4 billion and $1.7 billion. The sale is also important symbolically for Boeing, which is battling with the European Airbus Industrie consortium to make a huge sale to Saudi Arabia’s flag carrier, Saudia, valued at more than $6 billion.