LIVE AT 2:30 MT Evacuation order issued for some Fort McMurray neighbourhoods as wildfire nears
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
Two Saudi Arabian airlines said Tuesday they will order 78 jetliners from Boeing and take options to buy 43 more in a major boost for the American aircraft manufacturer.
The order for Boeing 787s will be divided between Saudi Arabia's flag carrier, Saudia, and a planned new airline called Riyadh Air, which Saudi officials introduced over the weekend.
At list prices, the combined deal would be worth about US$37 billion if the options are exercised, but airlines routinely get deep discounts. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Relatively high oil prices have boosted Saudi Arabia's economy and government, making it easier for the kingdom to close a multi-billion-dollar jet order.
The creation of Riyadh Air by the Saudi sovereign-wealth fund and the growth of Saudia are part of a broader Saudi strategy to diversify its oil-based economy. Saudi Arabia hopes to become a global aviation hub and attract 100 million annual visitors by 2030.
The kingdom's neighbouring states of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have built up state-owned airlines and used their geographic location to become key connecting points for international travel.
"The ambition here in the kingdom is huge, and this today ... is our first big order," Tony Douglas, the CEO of Riyadh Air, told CNBC. "There will be more orders."
The planes covered by the orders and options are long-range, two-aisle "widebody" jets, in the industry jargon. Boeing and Europe's Airbus dominate the market.
"Serving the Middle East, in our view, is a very, very important and critical market for widebodies, and we like that Boeing won this one," said Boeing CEO David Calhoun, who travelled to Riyadh for the announcement.
The Saudi deal is also a boost for the Boeing 787, which the company calls the Dreamliner. Boeing has struggled with interruptions in delivering new 787s for more than two years because of production flaws.
Shares of Boeing Co., based in Arlington, Va., rose more than 4% Tuesday.
Boeing had been talking to the Saudis about an order for three years, according to two senior U.S. administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been publicly announced. The officials said U.S. President Joe Biden did not directly lobby for the order when he met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last summer, but top aides made a pitch to Saudi government officials on Boeing's behalf.
"We are particularly pleased that Boeing was able to finally conclude these deals with Saudi Arabia after years of discussions, and intensive negotiations over recent months," said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. She called the announcement "another milestone in eight decades of cooperation between Saudi Arabia and American industry."
The Saudi deals will support about 1 million jobs in 44 states across the U.S. supply chain, including 150,000 new manufacturing jobs, according to administration officials.
The planes will be powered by engines from General Electric Co.
The Saudi orders come as a recovery in air travel boosts demand for jets made by Boeing and Airbus.
Last month, Air India announced it had agreed to buy 220 planes from Boeing and 250 from Airbus. Both the Air India and combined Saudi Arabian order rank among Boeing's five largest.
Boeing's history with Saudi Arabia goes back to early 1945, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented Abdulaziz al Saud-- the founder of modern Saudi Arabia -- with a DC-3 made by Douglas Aircraft Co., one of the forerunners of current-day Boeing.
The relationship has stood through Democratic and Republican administrations ever since. President Donald Trump signed defence and commercial deals for Boeing during a 2017 trip to the kingdom. The crown prince toured a Boeing plant in the Seattle area the following year and signed a memorandum of understanding for a joint venture maintaining military aircraft in the kingdom.
------
Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
Saskatchewan RCMP have revealed that a historic sexual assault investigation has led to the discovery of alleged crimes against children dating back to 2005.
An American accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania college student in 2013 and later sending her a Facebook message that said, 'So I raped you,' has been detained in France after a three-year search.
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Ontario Provincial Police are responding to a fatal collision involving two vehicles on Highway 417 in Ottawa's west end on Tuesday morning.
The Israeli flag is flying at Ottawa City Hall today to mark the country's national day, with plans to hold a private ceremony to mark Israel's Independence Day. There is a significant police presence at City Hall, including security barriers outside the main doors.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.