BEIJING (Reuters) - China Southern Airlines (>> China Southern Airlines Co Ltd) said on Tuesday its subsidiary Xiamen Airlines has signed a 5.5 billion yuan (582 million pounds) order with Boeing Co (>> Boeing Co) for buying 10 B737 jets.

China Southern and other mainland carriers have been placing large aircraft orders as they build out their fleets to meet booming growth in travel by Chinese.

According to Boeing's last forecast issued in August 2015, China will need 6,330 planes over the next 20 years, a 5 percent rise from its previous year's forecast.

In December, Xiamen Air had agreed to buy 30 Boeing jets. China Southern had at the same time agreed to purchase 50 B737MAX and 30 B737 Next Generation airplanes from Boeing.

(Reporting by Fang Yan and Matthew Miller in BEIJING; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

Stocks treated in this article : Boeing Co, China Southern Airlines Co Ltd