SINGAPORE — Boeing Co. won orders for 60 planes yesterday, trumping European rival Airbus as they compete for Asian customers this week at the Singapore Airshow.

The orders, worth more than $5.4 billion at list prices and announced on the opening day of the show, gave Boeing a welcome distraction from a series of embarrassing delays in its hot-selling 787 jet program.

Airbus, meanwhile, announced no major orders in Singapore, although Korean Air Lines Co. said Monday it will buy three more double-decker A380s on top of its existing order for five of the world's biggest commercial jet.

Most of Boeing's new orders came from Lion Air, a Jakarta, Indonesia-based budget carrier, which said it ordered 56 Boeing 737-900ER planes valued at a total of more than $4.4 billion at current list prices. Airlines typically negotiate big discounts on large orders.

The new purchase brings Lion Air's combined orders for the plane, which can seat up to 220 passengers, to 178. The airline also acquired purchase rights for another 50 units of the plane.

"We make money from this aircraft," said Lion Air President Rusdi Kirana. "It is the perfect aircraft in the emerging market."

The other customer was Indonesia's national airline Garuda, which ordered four Boeing 777-300ER airplanes listed at more than $1 billion.

Garuda Chief Executive Emirsyah Satar said the planes will be used to open new routes, adding that he hopes they replace some of the company's existing Boeing 747s.

The airline also said it would convert its previous order for six 777-200ERs to six 777-300ERs.

Meanwhile, Chicago-based Boeing faces enormous pressure to speed up progress on its 787 jet, the plane maker's first all-new aircraft since the 777 in 1995.

Boeing last month said the inaugural flight for the 787 would be delayed up to three months, pushing delivery of the first plane into early 2009. It was the third time the plane has been delayed.

Boeing's vice president of marketing for commercial planes, Randy Tinseth, said yesterday the company is confident of meeting the deadlines of its new delivery schedule for the plane, but would not rule out further delays.

"We are waiting until the end of the first quarter to finish the production plan and then we can make better projections on deliveries for 2009 and beyond," Tinseth told Dow Jones Newswires. "It is a reasonable plan but you never know."

The plane will be the world's first large commercial airplane made mostly of carbon-fiber composites, which are lighter and more durable than aluminum and don't corrode. Boeing has said those features will make the 787 more fuel-efficient and cheaper to maintain. They will also allow improvements such as bigger windows and a more comfortably pressurized cabin.

Despite the delays, most analysts say Boeing seems to have a better handle on its 787 production problems than rival Airbus did early on with its A380 superjumbo. The first A380 was delivered nearly two years late last fall — a delay that slashed profits at parent company EADS.

Separately, BJETS, a new private jet operator in Asia, said yesterday it has ordered 40 Cessna and Hawker jets worth more than $600 million.

Based in Singapore, BJETS seeks to tap into the Asian market for business jet travel, which it believes shows tremendous growth potential, Chief Executive Mark Baier said during the company's launch at the Airshow.