China in huge deal with Airbus
BEIJING – In a year-end boost for European planemaker Airbus, China has signed an agreement worth US$17.4 billion to buy 160 planes.
The deal, inked during a visit to the Chinese capital by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, is for 110 A320 planes and 50 A330 planes, according to Airbus China.
China Southern Airlines, the country’s largest carrier by fleet size, previously ordered 10 A330-220s, while China’s national flag carrier, Air China, announced earlier it intended to buy 24 Airbus 320 family aircraft with the revenue gained from selling shares in the airline.
The 500th A330 aircraft made by Airbus was delivered to Hainan Airlines on November 15.
Airbus also said it had signed a memorandum of understanding to allow the Chinese aviation industry to participate in the company’s manufacture of its new extra wide-body A350.
“Airbus confirms its intention to manufacture five percent of the airframe of the A350 XWB aircraft in China,” the company said in a statement.
China will continue to be the world’s biggest purchaser of aircraft and engines over the next 20 years, according to a report released by the British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce in September.
The Rolls-Royce report predicted that Chinese airlines would buy more than 3,100 new planes over the next two decades.
Ian Jarrett
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