Boeing announced Sunday that Indonesia's flag carrier has ordered 50 jets worth a total of US$4.9 billion.

Garuda Indonesia, named after a giant mythical bird, will buy 50 of Boeing's latest generation 737-MAX 8's jets.

Chicago-based Boeing previously accounted for massive orders in its Orders and Deliveries website under "unidentified customer," but the Garuda order was the first one that the world's largest aerospace company has attributed to a specific customer.

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In a statement, Boeing stated that the specific order was for 46 new 737 MAX 8s and the conversion of six existing Next-Generation 737-800s to 737 MAX 8s.

Garuda presently owns 77 Boeing 737-800s.

The order was made due to the airline industry's shift towards more updated and fuel-efficient planes.

The new MAX variant is said to be 14 percent more fuel-efficient compared to the Next-Generation 737-800. In addition, the 737 MAX is also 20 percent better than when the Next-Generation was introduced to the market.

According to Boeing, it has a total of 2,295 orders for the 737 MAX jets from 47 airlines all over the world.

The expected delivery for the 737 MAX is scheduled for 2017.

In a statement,Emirsyah Satar, CEO of Garuda Indonesia, said the "737 MAX 8 represents a bright, efficient future" for the company.

He added that the order will help Garuda to provide the most efficient and comfortable travel to its Southeast Asian and Indonesian customers.

There are more than 169,000 people employed by Boeing in 66 countries, including the United States.

Last week, the company forecasted that by 2033, the global air freight traffic would more than double and that the air cargo traffic would increase by about 4.7 percent by 2034.

TagsBoeing 737-800, boeing pllane, garuda indonesia