Air China Agrees to Buy 23 Airbus Jets

SHANGHAI, China, Jul 11, 2007 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Air China Ltd., one of the country's three major airlines, finalized an agreement to buy 23 Airbus A320 planes, it said Wednesday, part of an earlier commitment last October by the Chinese government to buy 150 of the jets.

The planes, to be delivered to Air China between January 2009 and December 2012, have a list price of US$1.41 billion (euro1.03 billion), the majority state-owned airline said in a statement.

Air China said the actual purchase price was lower than the list price. Airbus and U.S. rival Boeing Co. usually sell their planes to airlines at discounts from list prices.

"We expect the transaction to increase operating capacity by 5.88 percent, and to help increase frequency of flights, departing originally from Chengdu," the company said.

China's other two major airlines are China Southern Airlines Co. and China Easter Airlines Corp.

Guangzhou-based China Southern announced late Monday it had agreed to buy 25 B737-800 planes from Boeing and 20 A320 jets from Airbus worth a total list price of as much as US$3.7 billion (euro2.7 billion).

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Let's see more 737 orders!