Fresh from placing a bulk order with Boeing for 70 737-700/800s, China’s government is set to order as many as 150 Airbus A320-family aircraft on behalf of six of the country’s airlines.
Industry sources said last week that the government was working towards placing a major bulk order that was likely to be confirmed during this week’s visit to France by Chinese premier Wen Jiabao. China likes to announce orders for foreign goods during high-level political visits and Wen was due to visit France between 4 and 7 December.
The sources said expectations were that the order would be much larger than the 70-aircraft 737-700/800 commitment that was announced during a visit to Beijing by US President George Bush on 20 November – and most likely would be for 150 A320-family twinjets.
Several sources say the original plan was to announce a 150-aircraft Boeing deal, but China’s leaders ordered it to be cut back as they were unhappy about comments made by Bush about China’s political rival Taiwan days before he visited Beijing. A follow-on deal for 80 more 737s is expected in the coming months, however.
The sources, including those at Chinese carriers, say six airlines are to be allocated A320 family aircraft from the bulk order. These are Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines and Sichuan Airlines, all of which are existing operators of A320 family aircraft.
China Southern is expected to be allocated around one-third of the aircraft, followed closely behind by Air China and China Eastern. Hainan, Shenzhen and Sichuan will together be allocated around 20 aircraft, the sources add.
China’s domestic air transport market has been growing at a rapid rate and many airlines have been seeking government approval to order more aircraft in recent months.
Over the past year the focus has largely been on committing to widebody capacity expansion and major orders have been placed for Airbus A330s and Airbus A380s and Boeing 787s.
Both Airbus and Boeing have said they expect many more narrowbody orders from China in the next year or two, however, as the main focus returns to boosting domestic capacity.
NICHOLAS IONIDES/SINGAPORE
Source: Flight International
