The order for the 747-8 Intercontinental, as the passenger version is known, also represents the first passenger 747 to be ordered since 2002. Boeing's 61-jet backlog of unfilled 747 orders included only five passenger versions of the plane at the end of May, according to the company's Web site.

The order was one of three for 747s Boeing said it won last week from unidentified customers. Demand for cargo planes is being driven by Internet commerce and improving economies worldwide. Jeff Peace, who heads the 747-8 program, said June 1 the first passenger version 747-8 will be delivered in 2010 as Boeing defends its lead in the jumbo-jet market against bigger rival Airbus SAS.

Spokesman Tim Bader declined to comment on the customer's identity. Chicago-based Boeing committed to building the 747-8 in November to keep its share of the market for aircraft seating more than 400 people. It has booked a total of 19 orders for the longer, more fuel-efficient widebody, which will replace the 747-400.

The 747-8 will seat 34 more people than the 747-400 and have a flying range of 9,200 miles. Airbus's 555-seat A380 will surpass the 747 as the world's largest passenger plane when it enters service this year.

Boeing is in talks with as many as six Asian carriers and four European carriers to sell the 747-8 passenger version, Randy Tinseth, head of sales, marketing and in-service support for the 747 program said in an interview May 24.

Luxembourg's Cargolux Airlines SA has 10 orders for the 747- 8 freighter and Japan's Nippon Cargo Airlines Co. has eight. The 747-8 freighter lists for $279.5 million to $283.5 million, while the passenger version lists for $272.5 million to $282.5 million.

Production of the 747-8 will begin in 2008 and the first cargo version will be delivered in the third quarter of the following year. Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Taiwan's China Airlines, among the biggest 747 operators in Asia, have said they are looking at the 747-8.

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