WASHINGTON President Clinton personally negotiated with King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to clinch a $6 billion aircraft order in which the Boeing Co. will be a key supplier, Sen. Patty Murray said Wednesday.
Murray, D-Wash., said Clinton called her late Tuesday with the news, telling her the order from Saudi Arabia's national carrier had been secured earlier that day for Boeing and McDonnell Douglas.
She said in an interview that Saudia, the government-owned airline, would place orders with both U.S. manufacturers.
She did not provide a breakdown on how much each of the two companies would get. Other congressional sources said the total order would be for 59 jets, including six long-range, 24 medium-range and 29 short-range models. Sources close to Boeing said the Seattle-based company would get the lion's share of the sale.
Saudia and the Saudi Arabian government have been in discussions with Boeing for up to 60 firm orders and 20 options worth a total of $7 billion.
The firm orders under discussion with Boeing included five to 10 747-400s, 20 to 25 767s or 777s, and 20 to 25 737s, a company spokesman said last week.
McDonnell Douglas had offered its long-range three-engine MD-11 for the Saudia fleet, which now has 11 Airbus A300s and 46 Boeing jets, including various models.
Officials at Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and the White House had no immediate comment.
''We did not make an announcement,'' Boeing spokesman Paul Binder said. ''We do not say anything until the customer does.''
''It's up to our customer to make an announcement, not to us,'' McDonnell Douglas spokesman Don Hanson said.
The deal comes less than a week after the Export-Import Bank approved a preliminary commitment of up to $6.2 billion in loan guarantees for the potential sale of as many as 80 Boeing jets to Saudi Arabia.
McDonnell Douglas officials said they were also in discussions with the bank for financial support of its exports.
Murray said Clinton told her that he and Commerce Secretary Ron Brown had to negotiate tenaciously for the Saudia deal, which pitted the two U.S. aircraft manufacturers against their chief European rival, Airbus Industrie.
''There was tremendous competition from Airbus,'' Murray said. ''He said he really worked. ... He was really excited.''
There had been speculation that the Saudis might buy planes from Boeing and from Airbus.
French officials recently suggested that they expected Airbus to get at least 44 firm orders and 16 options from Saudia, following a lobbying effort by French President Francois Mitterrand.
That deal would have included a significant purchase of Airbus' A320s, A319s or A321s, which compete directly with Boeing's Renton-built 737.
But sources in the Washington state congressional delegation, who had been briefed on the deal reached between the president and the king, said it was their understanding that Airbus had lost out.
In recent years, the U.S. government has faced criticism from some in Congress and in the struggling U.S. aerospace industry for not getting involved more aggressively in negotiations for international jet sales.
Critics complained that European political leaders engaged in negotiations personally while American leaders remained aloof, delegating the job to underlings with less clout.
According to Murray, Clinton has changed that pattern dramatically.
''It's what Europe does well. ... Finally, we have a president and an administration that will get personally involved,'' she said.