1.   Aside from being a record-breaking deal, the American Airlines order set a new precedent in the way commercial airplanes are sold.

2.   Boeing Co. sells its airplanes in dollars worldwide and can lock-in prices months or years in advance.

3.   Boeing would like to sell airplanes to the government-run airline.

4.   Airbus, at its headquarters in Toulouse, markets and sells the airplanes.

5.   Last year was the first year that Airbus, the European consortium, sold more airplanes than Boeing.

6.   Last month it launched an area where users can buy and sell airplanes, following the overwhelming success of its eBay Motors section, launched almost two years ago.

7.   McDonnell Douglas Corp., the third-biggest aircraft builder in the world, has not yet sold an airplane to General Electric.

8.   Now the company has a world of customers and sells each airplane as a custom product.

9.   That is why Boeing has sold so many airplanes over the years.

10.   Two are Democrats from Washington state, where union desires to sell Boeing airplanes to China overcome all other trade questions.