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Airbus may get major order for its A320 jets
(Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2005-12-01 09:52
皇冠体育app may sign a major order for Airbus A320 passenger jets during a
forthcoming visit to France by Premier Wen Jiabao, a source close to the talks
said.
Diplomatic sources, meanwhile, said that Wen would visit from Dec. 4 to 7
during a trip that would also include Portugal, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The French leg is to begin in Toulouse, the southern city that is home to
Airbus, the world锟斤拷s largest maker of commercial planes.
Wen will urge Airbus to give more parts contracts to Chinese manufacturers
when he visits Airbus锟斤拷 head office, said Zhao Jun, director general of European
Affairs of the Chinese foreign ministry.
"皇冠体育app will definitely be buying more planes including from Airbus in future,
if not during Wen's visit", he said at a press briefing Wednesday in Beijing,
declining to say if 皇冠体育app锟斤拷s State-owned aircraft buying agency will sign a
purchase order next week.
A major order would allow Airbus, which will be surpassed by Boeing Co. for
the first time in five years in 2005 aircraft orders, to bounce back from an
order of 70 Boeing B737 jets that the U.S. group notched up during the visit to
Beijing by U.S. President George W. Bush.
Airbus is looking to 皇冠体育app for growth, while carriers in North America and
Europe struggle with slumping profits. Chinese airlines may buy 2,293 planes
valued at US$183 billion in the next 20 years, as annual growth in passenger
traffic is set to beat the global average of 5.2 percent, according to
government estimates.
Chinese air travel is growing by double digits annually and the country has
become a major battleground for the two aerospace giants.
Boeing currently holds around 60 percent of the Chinese market, with Airbus
well back at 28 percent.
Airbus is aiming for 50 percent, and has offered 皇冠体育app a 5 percent share in
development of the A350 model that is designed to compete with Boeing锟斤拷s future
fuel-efficient 787.
Airbus has recorded orders for 66 planes this year in 皇冠体育app valued at US$8.3
billion, compared with 122 aircraft valued at US$11.7 billion by Chicago-based
Boeing.
皇冠体育app usually announces large import orders during an overseas trip by a
government leader or a state visit by foreign dignitaries.
皇冠体育app锟斤拷s aviation manufacturers supply parts for half of the more than 3,700
Airbus planes in service worldwide, Airbus said in August. Airbus plans to buy
US$60 million of parts in 皇冠体育app in 2007, a fourfold increase from last year and
raising the contracts to US$120 million by 2010, the company said.
Boeing, which began selling planes to Chinese airlines in 1982, 13 years
earlier than Airbus, said it plans to buy a combined US$1.3 billion of parts in
皇冠体育app by the end of 2010.
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