China orders 150 Airbus jets
China ordered 150 Airbus single-aisle A320 airliners today, more than twice as many plane orders than the company’s US-based rival Boeing received from China last month.
The European aircraft manufacturer said the deal was worth nearly $10bn (€8.5bn) and was “the largest single order that Airbus has ever received since it entered the Chinese market two decades ago".
The A319s, A320s and A321s, all part of the A320 family, will go to Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines and Hainan Airlines.
The order upstages China’s purchase last month of 70 Boeing jets during a visit to Beijing by President George Bush.
Until now, Chicago-based Boeing has won about 60% of new plane orders from China, with European-based Airbus taking about one-third.
The order for Airbus planes was announced on the second day of a visit to France by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. Representatives from Airbus and China’s Central Aircraft Sales Corporation signed the deal in the presence of the Chinese premier and his French counterpart Dominique de Villepin.
Backed by a high-level French diplomatic offensive, the European plane maker has been pushing to increase its presence in China, one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for air travel.
Airbus is controlled by European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.
Prime Minister Wen’s first stop in France yesterday was the factory where Airbus assembles its 555-seater A380 superjumbos.
Soon after touching down in the southern French city of Toulouse, Wen also presided over the signing of a co-operation agreement between Airbus and China’s National Development and Reform Commission that could lead to the opening of an Airbus assembly line to build A320 jets in China.
