Etihad, the Abu Dhabi airline, on Monday placed orders for 100 aircraft with Airbus and Boeing worth about $20bn at list prices before discounts. It is one of the biggest orders in the history of commercial aviation.

With options and purchase rights for a further 105 aircraft, the order could eventually be worth $43bn at list prices and covers five-year-old Etihad’s plan to build a fleet of 150 aircraft by 2020 from less than 40 on Tuesday.