MOSCOW, August 23 (RIA Novosti) - Atlant-Souyz, the official air carrier of Moscow's government, signed Thursday a contract at the MAKS-2007 air show to buy four Boeing 737-700 airliners worth a total of $249 million at list prices.

Valery Menitsky, chairman of the Atlant-Souyz board of directors, said high fuel efficiency and flight range were the main factors that prompted the airline to choose the Boeing aircraft. Atlant-Soyuz recently took two Boeing-737s on lease.

U.S. aircraft-building giant Boeing says airlines in Russia and former Soviet republics are expected to purchase some 1,060 passenger planes worth a total of around $70 billion in the next 20 years.

MAKS-2007 is an aviation exhibition held every two years in the town of Zhukovsky outside Moscow.