Article Posted on : - Nov 05, 2010

A350XWB aircraft. An Airbus photo

BEIJING (PTI): China is to buy 102 Airbus aircrafts in one of the biggest aviation deals in recent times.

According to the agreement China Aviation Supplies Holding Company (CASHC) signed the deal with Airbus, 66 of the 102 planes are new orders.

Of the 66 new orders, 50 are for A320 series planes while six are for A330 planes and 10 are for A350XWB aircraft.

An order for 36 A330 planes had been previously announced but was not confirmed until Friday, according to Airbus, official Xinhua news agency reported.

The deal is announced as Chinese President Hu Jintao is currently visiting France.

Thursday China's largest airline, China Southern announced that it plans to purchase 36 Airbus planes for USD 3.78 billion dollars from Airbus SNC, based in French city Toulouse.

In a statement filed to the Hong Kong stock exchange, China Southern, one of the state run airlines of China said it would buy six Airbus A330 aircraft for USD 1.205 billion and 30 Airbus A320 series aircraft for USD 2.575 billion.

The aggregate consideration will be partly payable by cash and partly by financing arrangements with banking institutions, official Xinhua newsagency reported.

The six Airbus A330 planes will be delivered in stages to China Southern between 2013 and 2014.

While the 30 Airbus A320 series aircraft will be delivered in stages from 2012 to 2015, the airline said.