It marks a dramatic turnaround for Airbus, which was overtaken by rival Boeing in the race for new business in 2006, made a spectacular plunge into the red last year and has been beset by plane production woes.

Airbus sales chief John Leahy said at the Dubai air show that 2007 is 'going to beat the record for orders' with 1,122 already on its books, beating the previous record year of 2005 with 1,111.

Leahy said orders had stood at 1,021 at the end of October but had increased sharply during the world's third largest aircraft exhibition in the booming Gulf emirate of Dubai.

DAE Capital, which leases aircraft, said in a statement released at the Dubai show that it had signed a letter of intent to buy the 100 planes.

'We are confident that DAE Capital is going to rapidly become a world leader in the leasing of planes,' said the company's president, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, who is also head of Emirates airlines.

The company also later announced it had had signed a letter of intent with Boeing to buy 100 aircraft valued at around US$13.7 billion.

The healthy order book will come as a relief for Airbus, which has seen the development of some of its aircraft such as the A380 superjumbo bedevilled by persistent and costly delays.

Last year, Boeing overtook a crisis-ridden Airbus in the race for new business for the first time since 2000.

Airbus, which was also suffering from management instability, slid into the red in 2006 to the tune of 572 million euros, after a profit of 2.3 billion euros in 2005, and has since launched a radical restructuring plan.

Also at the show on Monday, Royal Jet, the Middle East market leader in business aviation, said in a statement it was planning to increase its fleet to 20 aircraft within five years and achieve a turnover of US$500 million.

The Abu Dhabi-based VIP flight service provider currently has a fleet of 12 aircraft.

On Sunday, Emirates announced its own mega-contract with Airbus to buy more than US$20 billion worth of planes, which Airbus executives said was the biggest order in the European plane maker's history.

The order from the Dubai-owned carrier was for 70 midsized A350 XWB (Extra Wide Body) aircraft and 11 A380s.

Mr Leahy raised forecast sales of the A350 XWB to 'more than 300' by year's end. He had expected 200 orders at the start of the year.

Boeing, whose B787 Dreamliner is the major competitor to the A350, won a comparatively modest US$3.2 billion order from Emirates for 12 of its B777-300s, bringing the Dubai airline's total outlay for new planes to over US$23 billion at the show.

Seattle-based Boeing also said in a statement it had signed an agreement with Qatar Airways for 30 787 Dreamliners and five 777 cargo planes in a deal valued at over US$6.1 billion at list prices.

Qatar Airways chief executive officer Akber al-Baker also indicated the government owned carrier might go for a public share listing in three to four years time when the company starts making a profit.

'By 2010/2011 we should be profitable. After three continuous years in the black then we'd go for an IPO,' he told reporters on Sunday.

But the lion's share of new orders announced Sunday went to Airbus, a fact welcomed by German president and CEO Tom Enders.

'Emirates airline is placing great faith in our A350 XWB and A380 programmes as well as our company and we are rightfully proud,' he said.

State-owned Saudi Arabian Airlines said it has decided to buy an unspecified number of Airbus A320s as part of a plan to modernise its fleet, the official SPA news agency reported. -- AFP