BERLIN (Reuters) - Airbus (AIR.PA) has signed an agreement to sell 140 aircraft to China, it said on Wednesday, in a deal worth almost $23 billion at list prices.

The agreement, signed during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Germany, is for 100 A320 family aircraft and 40 A350 planes, Airbus said.

“It’s one of the biggest deals that we’ve signed in a long time,” Airbus Group Chief Executive Tom Enders told journalists after signing the deal in Berlin.

The planes will be purchased by state-owned China Aviation Supplies Holding Company, which will then allocate them to Chinese airlines.

The A320 planes will be a mixture of the older CEO and the new NEO version with revamped engines, while the majority of the A350 orders are for the -900 model. The deal is flexible pending negotiations with the airlines.

Enders said he expected up to 50 percent of the A320 family planes would come from the Airbus final assembly line in China.

Enders was making his first public appearance since Airbus rolled out a new structure, completing a recent merger between its parent company and its dominant planemaking arm, changes which included a shift in the reporting line for its commercial sales team to Enders.

Enders said the shift in reporting lines for the sales team reflected the fact that commercial aircraft head Fabrice Bregier had been given more tasks in his new role as group-wide chief operating officer.

With orders slowing and the focus shifting to the backlog, Enders said the shake-up allows Bregier to concentrate on deliveries.

“This is merely a burden sharing mechanism because the focus should be on execution and this is what it’s all about,” Enders said.

The logo of Airbus Group is seen on the company's headquarters building in Toulouse, Southwestern France, April 18, 2017. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

“We have plenty of challenges on the execution side, be it the transition to the NEO, the ramp-up of the A320 family, the 350 family, not to mention the A400M, which is not entirely solved,” he said.

Enders also said the group was in talks with the Chinese over the A380 superjumbo, which has suffered slow sales.

“It won’t happen overnight. It has to be intensively discussed,” he said.</s>"China Aviation Supplies Holding Company (CAS) has signed with Airbus a General Terms Agreement (GTA) for the purchase of a total of 140 aircraft. The agreement comprises of 100 A320 Family aircraft and 40 A350 XWB Family aircraft, reflecting the strong demand of Chinese airlines in all market segments including domestic, low cost, regional and international long haul," Airbus said in a statement.

The agreement was signed in Berlin by Airbus CEO Tom Enders and Executive Vice President of CAS Sun Bo in the presence of visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The deal value is undisclosed, but market experts estimated it at 20 billion euros ($22.8 billion), based on list prices.

According to Airbus’ latest Global Market Forecast 2017-2036, the world’s passenger aircraft fleet above 100 seats is set to more than double in the next 20 years to over 40,000 planes amid 4.4-percent average annual increase in traffic driven by emerging markets like China.

The Airbus A320 series of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin-engine jet airliners was launched in 1988. Since then, such planes had carried more than 11.5 billion passengers in 103 million flights. It is produced in four sizes (A318, A319, A320 & A321) seating 100-240 passengers.

The Airbus A350 XWB Family features long-range twin-engine wide-body jet airliners able to carry 280-366 passengers. The planes boast carbon-fibre fuselage and wings, new fuel-effective Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine, as well as capability of performing flights of up to 19 hours.</s>SCHIPHOL-RIJK (dpa-AFX) - China Aviation Supplies Holding Company has signed with Airbus a General Terms Agreement for the purchase of a total of 140 aircraft. The agreement comprises of 100 A320 Family aircraft and 40 A350 XWB Family aircraft, reflecting the strong demand of Chinese airlines in all market segments. The deal reportedly worth about $23 billion at list prices.



By the end of May 2017, the in-service Airbus fleet with Chinese operators totaled some 1,440 aircraft, of which nearly 1,230 are A320 Family planes. The A350 XWB has received valuable endorsements from several Chinese customers. The unrivalled operational performance and cabin comfort of the A350 XWB will give Chinese airlines a competitive edge to attract more passengers on international routes.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX</s>China Aviation Supplies Holding Company and Airbus signed (05-Jul-2017) a General Terms Agreement (GTA) for the purchase of 140 aircraft comprising 100 A320 Family aircraft and 40 A350 XWB Family aircraft. Airbus said the agreement reflects the "strong demand of Chinese airlines in all market segments including domestic, low cost, regional and international long haul". [more - original PR]</s>The agreement, signed during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Germany, is for 100 A320 family aircraft and 40 A350 planes, Airbus said.

The planes will be purchased by state-owned China Aviation Supplies Holding Company, which will then allocate the planes to Chinese airlines.

Airbus group CEO Tom Enders said the group was also in talks with the Chinese over the A380 super jumbo, which has suffered slow sales.

"It won't happen overnight. It has to be intensively discussed," he told journalists.</s>Airbus has signed an agreement to sell 140 aircraft to China, it said on Wednesday, in a deal worth around $23 billion at list prices.

The agreement, signed during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Germany, is for 100 A320 family aircraft and 40 A350 planes, Airbus said.

The planes will be purchased by state-owned China Aviation Supplies Holding Company, which will then allocate the planes to Chinese airlines.

Airbus group CEO Tom Enders said the group was also in talks with the Chinese over the A380 super jumbo, which has suffered slow sales.

“It won’t happen overnight. It has to be intensively discussed,” he told journalists.</s>BERLIN: Airbus said Wednesday it had won a major order from China of 140 planes for $22.8 billion, during a visit by President Xi Jinping to Berlin.The European aircraft maker said it had sealed the agreement with China Aviation Supplies Holding Company (CAS), which chief executive Tom Enders called "one of the biggest contracts signed in a long time by Airbus".The deal covers 100 A320 single-aisle jets and 40 A350 wide-body aircraft."This underscores the strong demand by Chinese airlines in all segments, from domestic and low-cost to the regional and international long-haul market," Airbus said in a statement.The company said a market analysis forecast a doubling of demand worldwide for planes with more than 100 seats to 40,000 aircraft in the next 20 years, fuelled largely by demand from developing markets such as China."In the mid-1990s we had a market share (in China) of five to six percent," Enders said."Twenty years later we have around 50 percent -- we really put our foot on the gas."Airbus said its A320 line of planes was the world's best-selling single-aisle aircraft with more than 13,000 orders and 7,600 planes delivered.In January last year, BOC Aviation , owned by Bank of China, announced an order for 30 Airbus A320s worth more than $3 billion to meet growing demand.At last month's Paris Air Show , Airbus announced 326 orders worth nearly $40 billion.However, it was outpaced at the event, one of the biggest annual sales bazaars in the industry, by Boeing thanks to its new 737 MAX 10 airliner, taking in a total of 571 orders for nearly $75 billion.Xi was in Berlin for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of the G20 summit of big industrialised and emerging economies in the northern German port city of Hamburg starting Friday.</s>The booming aviation business in China is giving Airbus a big boost.

The aircraft manufacturer announced Wednesday it has signed a deal with China Aviation Supplies Holding Company (CAS) to deliver 140 planes. While the companies did not put a price tag on the deal, the list price of those planes is roughly $23 billion.

Airbus will deliver 100 A320 Family aircraft and 40 of its A350s to the state-owned company, which will parse them out to airlines throughout the country. (Not included in the agreement is the self-flying taxi plane the company is working on.)

The A320 Family, whose planes seat anywhere from 100 to 240 passengers depending on the model, has proven especially popular in China. Airbus says of the 1,440 aircraft it has operating in the country, nearly 1,230 are in A320s. (The A350s are more suited for international routes.)

China is a huge growth market for the airline industry. Airbus' own Global Market Forecast predicts domestic traffic in the country will become the world's largest market in the years to come. And rival Boeing last year said it expects Chinese airlines to buy over $1 trillion worth of planes over the next 20 years as they grow to meet rising demand.

The deal with CAS is a welcome bit of good news for Airbus. Earlier this year the company was forced to take a $1.2 billion hit related to its troubled A400M military aircraft program.

Airbus said it's also in talks with Chinese officials about an order for the A380 superjumbo jet - a line that hasn't sold as fast as the company was hoping to date. As yet, though, no agreement has been reached.</s>Airbus has signed an agreement to sell 140 aircraft to China, it said on Wednesday, in a deal worth around US$23 billion at list prices.

BERLIN: Airbus has signed an agreement to sell 140 aircraft to China, it said on Wednesday, in a deal worth around US$23 billion at list prices.

The agreement, signed during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Germany, is for 100 A320 family aircraft and 40 A350 planes, Airbus said.

The planes will be purchased by state-owned China Aviation Supplies Holding Company, which will then allocate the planes to Chinese airlines.

Airbus group CEO Tom Enders said the group was also in talks with the Chinese over the A380 super jumbo, which has suffered slow sales.

"It won't happen overnight. It has to be intensively discussed," he told journalists.</s>Berlin — Airbus says it has won a large order from China of 140 planes for $22.8bn, during a visit by President Xi Jinping to Berlin.

The European aircraft maker said it had sealed the deal with China Aviation Supplies Holding Company, which CE Tom Enders called "one of the biggest contracts signed in a long time by Airbus".

"This underscores the strong demand by Chinese airlines in all segments, from domestic and low-cost to the regional and international long-haul market," Airbus said.

Airbus said a market analysis forecast a doubling of demand globally for planes with more than 100 seats to 40,000 aircraft in the next 20 years, fuelled largely by demand from developing markets such as China.

"In the mid-1990s we had a market share [in China] of 5% to 6%," Enders said. "Twenty years later, we have around 50% — we really put our foot on the gas." The group said its A320 line of planes was the world’s best-selling single-aisle aircraft with more than 13,000 orders and 7,600 planes delivered.

In January 2016, BOC Aviation, owned by Bank of China, announced an order for 30 Airbus A320s worth more than $3bn to meet growing demand.

At last month’s Paris Air Show, Airbus announced 326 orders worth nearly $40bn.

However, the company was outpaced at the event by Boeing thanks to its new 737 MAX 10 airliner, taking in a total of 571 orders for nearly $75bn.

Xi was in Berlin for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of the Group of 20 summit of big industrialised and emerging economies in the northern German port city of Hamburg, which starts on Friday.
A Chinese state company signs an order with Airbus for 100 A320 and 40 A350 airplanes.