Chinese airlines buy 292 planes from Airbus for USD 37 billion

Beijing: China’s top airlines will buy a total of 292 planes from Airbus in a USD 37 billion deal with the aviation giant, the European aerospace corporation announced on Friday.

“Airbus confirms the signature of orders with Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, and Shenzhen Airlines for a total of 292 A320 Family aircraft, demonstrating the positive recovery momentum and prosperous outlook for the Chinese aviation market. Once the relevant criteria are met, these orders will enter the backlog,” Airbus said in a statement.

Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer and Head of International, said these new orders demonstrate the strong confidence in Airbus from their customers. “It is also a solid endorsement from our airline customers in China of the performance, quality, fuel efficiency and sustainability of the world’s leading family of single-aisle aircraft.”

“We commend the excellent work by George Xu and the entire Airbus China team as well as our customers’ teams for having brought to conclusion these long and extensive discussions that have taken place throughout the difficult COVID pandemic.”

By the end of May 2022, the in-service Airbus fleet with Chinese operators totalled over 2,070 aircraft.

According to the statement, the A320neo Family incorporates new generation engines and Sharklets, which together deliver at least 20 per cent fuel and CO2 savings, as well as a 50 per cent noise reduction. The A320neo Family offers unmatched comfort in all classes and Airbus’ 18-inch wide seats in economy as standard.

At the end of May 2022, the A320neo Family had totalled more than 8,000 orders from over 130 customers.

Since its Entry into Service six years ago, Airbus has delivered over 2,200 A320neo Family aircraft contributing to 15 million tons of CO2 saving.