Spain's dominant airline Iberia is days away from placing an order for between 50 and 70 planes with either Europe's Airbus or its US rival Boeing, a spokesman said on Friday.
"We are in the final stages of negotiations... It's an imminent decision... a question of days," he said.
Iberia intends to replace 38 ageing Douglas and McDonnell Douglas aircraft and 13 leased Boeing 757s, used on its shorter routes, plus a number of its earliest Airbus A320s, which are 12 or 13 years old.
"It (the order) could be for around 70 planes," the spokesman said.
It is likely to choose between Boeing's latest models of 737 or Airbus's A320 family of planes. List prices for the smaller of the 737s start from USD$44 million.
Boeing's Chief Executive Harry Stonecipher met Iberia directors on Thursday in Madrid.
Asked whether Boeing was confident of winning the order at a press briefing before his meeting, he said: "We rate our chances as very good if it is truly a commercial decision."
Spain is one of the shareholders in EADS, which controls the European planemaker, and Iberia's last major fleet orders have all gone Airbus' way.
Iberia's board meets on Thursday, but the spokesman could not immediately confirm whether the aircraft order was on the agenda for the next meeting.
