China Southern Airlines is ordering six Airbus A330 aircraft and 30 A320s for deliveries beginning in two years' time.
The carrier, based in Guangzhou, has disclosed details of the acquisition agreement with Airbus to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
China Southern states that it will begin taking delivery of the A320s in 2012, running to 2015, while the A330s will arrive over 2013-14.
It has not identified the specific variant of A330 nor has it given an engine selection for either type. China Southern operates both the A330-200 and -300 and its fleet is powered by both Rolls-Royce Trent 700s and Pratt & Whitney PW4000s.
China Southern similarly has a mix of CFM International CFM56 and International Aero Engines V2500 powerplants on its A320-family twin-jets.
It states that the catalogue prices for the aircraft amount to $1.2 billion for the A330s and $2.5 billion for the A320s, but says it obtained price concessions "comparable" to those in a previous purchase of A320 aircraft in January this year.
China Southern adds that, compared with its fleet at the end of December last year, the acquisition will raise its capacity by 13.9%.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
