<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Lee A Carney:
Is the buyer just securing a place in the production line down the road that they can decide to keep or not?</font>
That's basically it. You are letting the aircraft manufacturers know that you have the intention of ordering those aircrafts. It's really similar to how players' contract work in pro-sports when they have an option year on their contract (which the team or the player might exercise). In this case, it's the airline who has the option to take up on the options.
I am quite sure you don't have to pay anything up front for the options.
[This message has been edited by Empress (edited 05-13-2003).]