Aircraft manufacturer Boeing announced that Riyadh Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines have each placed an order for 39 long-haul 787 Dreamliners and have raised the possibility of purchasing an additional 43 aircraft, or 121 in total.

With the additional 43 potential aircraft included, it would be the fifth-largest order by value received by Boeing, which did not want to specify the value of the deal nor how the planes would be split between the 787-9 and 787-10.

According to the White House, the total value of the order amounts to $37 billion.

"This agreement is part of the broader Saudi strategic plan aimed at turning the country into a global aviation hub," Boeing said in a statement.

The company indicated that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is looking forward to transporting, through its two airlines, 330 million passengers annually and receiving 100 million tourists by 2030.

Saudi Arabia is pursuing ambitious aviation goals as part of the broad "Vision 2030" reform of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia announced the launch of a new air carrier under the name "Riyadh Airlines", owned by the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund.

Last November, Saudi officials announced plans to build a new 57-kilometer airport in the capital, which is supposed to handle 120 million passengers by 2030 and 185 million by 2050.

The manufacturer confirmed that, at least initially, the new Saudi airline would fly only Boeing aircraft.

As for Saudi Airlines, which is based in the coastal city of Jeddah overlooking the Red Sea, it already operates more than 50 Boeing aircraft on its long-haul network and hopes, by increasing its fleet, to expand this network.

"We are especially pleased that Boeing has finally been able to reach agreements with Saudi Arabia after years of talks and intense negotiations over the past months," the White House said in a statement.

For its part, the Saudi Embassy to the United States confirmed that the order "reaffirms the strong commercial ties between the Kingdom and the United States."