Airbus mulls plane assembly in China
(Reuters/AFP)
Updated: 2005-12-05 06:28

China to order about 100 Airbus: source

PARIS - China will sign a contract for about 100 Airbus A320 jets on Monday in an order worth about seven billion dollars (six billion euros), a source close to the sales negotiations said.

Airbus officials said earlier that visiting Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao would meet his French counterpart Dominique de Villepin on Monday and then announce the aircraft orders at a joint news conference.

The Airbus A320 is a medium-range, single-aisle twin-engine jet capable of carrying up to about 180 passengers, and is still the European company's most popular aircraft after 17 years on the market.

Officials said the exact number of planes ordered by China would be announced at the news conference.

The order will allow Airbus to bounce back from an order of 70 Boeing B737 jets that the US group notched up during the visit to Beijing by US President George W. Bush last month.

Chinese air travel is growing by double digits annually and the country has become a major battleground for the two aerospace giants.

Boeing currently holds around 60 percent of the Chinese market, with Airbus well back at 28 percent, but aiming for at least 50 percent.

Airbus estimates total potential sales in China over the next 20 years at 1,600 planes, some of which could be assembled locally under an agreement for increased cooperation signed at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse on Sunday.

The number of passengers transported in China last year climbed by 16 percent to 122 million, twice the pace of the global market.