NICHOLAS IONIDES / SINGAPORE
Manufacturer's efforts yield dividends as China Eastern Airlines orders 20 narrowbodies
A long-awaited order from China for Airbus narrowbody aircraft has finally come to fruition with the purchase by China Eastern Airlines of 20 A320s. Industry sources also say A320 deals with other Chinese carriers are likely soon.
Shanghai-based China Eastern signed a purchase agreement on 16 April, and the carrier says it will pay $800 million for the aircraft. That compares with Airbus's list price of $55-60 million for an A320, and represents a discount of $300-400 million for the total package.
China Eastern already operates 43 Airbus aircraft, comprising A300-600Rs, A319s, A320s and A340-300s. Like its current Airbus narrowbodies, its new A320s will be powered by CFM International CFM56 turbofans. Deliveries will start early next year and are expected to continue through 2005.
Airbus has been negotiating an order for 30-50 A320-family aircraft for Chinese carriers for over a year, and a multi-airline deal was expected to have been finalised by the Chinese government last year. But it appears that A320 orders from Chinese airlines will be placed in batches, rather than one large order.
In October, the Chinese government confirmed an order with Boeing for 30 737-700/800s, for allocation to China Eastern, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Shanghai Airlines. China Eastern was allocated four aircraft from the Boeing narrowbody deal. It also has five Airbus A340-600s on order.
At the Asian Aerospace 2002airshow in Singapore in February, Airbus revealed it had secured memoranda of understanding or expressions of interest with Chinese carriers for around 70 aircraft.
Chief executive Noel Forgeard said at the time that the deals remained subject to Chinese government approvals, and industry sources say at least some are close to being endorsed.
China Eastern, China Northwest Airlines, China Southern, CNAC-Zhejiang Airlines and Sichuan Airlines already operate A320-family aircraft. Air China has A318s on firm order, while China Northern Airlines has A321s on order. China Southwest Airlines is thought to want A319s for services to Tibet.
Source: Flight International
