AEROSPACE

McDonnell Douglas Near to Signing Jet Orders: The St. Louis-based company expects to sell a substantial number of commercial jetliners in the second quarter, Chief Executive Harry Stonecipher said. McDonnell’s Douglas Aircraft Co. is close to signing orders with unidentified U.S. and foreign airlines, he said. The biggest orders will be for the company’s narrow-body MD-80 and MD-90 twin-jet planes, he said at the aircraft maker’s annual meeting in St. Louis. The orders would follow sluggish sales so far this year at the company’s Douglas Aircraft Co. commercial jet division. Long Beach-based Douglas sold four MD-90s and three MD-11 tri-jets in the first quarter, well below sales at its bigger U.S. competitor, Boeing Co. Stonecipher said McDonnell Douglas continues to seek partners for the commercial jet business in Asia, Europe or other parts of the world who could “bring us a market.”