International

China to buy 150 Airbus planes

PARIS: China signed a framework document on Monday with European aircraft maker Airbus for an order for 150 mid-range planes worth nearly $10 billion during a visit by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

The contract, signed by Airbus chief executive Gustav Humbert and the president of the China Aviation Supplies Import and Export Group, Li Hai, covers aircraft from Airbus's A320 family of single-aisle planes, which seat up to 185 passengers.

The deal was signed in the presence of Mr. Wen and his French counterpart Dominique de Villepin.

The A320 family of single-aisle jets comprises four aircraft capable of seating 107 to 185 passengers. The catalogue price of each A320 is $64.5 million.

Airbus, owned 80-per cent by the European Aeronautic, Defence and Space Company and 20 per cent by Britain's BAE Systems, is seeking to topple U.S. rival Boeing's dominance of the Chinese civil aviation sector by clawing its way up to a 50 per cent market share.

It currently has only around a third compared to Boeing's 60 per cent.

Boeing last month notched up firm orders for 70 of its mid-range planes, the 737s, and options for another 80 during a visit to China by U.S. President George W. Bush.

— Xinhua

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