Big new order of China-made planes

SHANGHAI -- The financial leasing arm of the Agricultural Bank of China signed a deal on Friday with the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd (COMAC) to buy 45 of the nation's domestically made C919 large passenger planes.

ABC Financial Leasing Co Ltd signed the orders in Shanghai to expand its fleet size to cash in on the country's rapidly growing demand for air services.

It was the COMAC's second order this year, after BOC Aviation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank of China, ordered 20 C919 passenger planes in February at the Singapore Airshow.

The new deal took the COMAC's backlog to 280 from 12 buyers.

The frequent orders show the confidence of the market and customers in C919, said He Dongfeng, the COMAC's general manager.

The COMAC is a state-owned firm established in 2008 to develop domestically made passenger aircraft, including the short-range jet ARJ21 and single-isle narrow-body passenger aircraft C919, both of which have been marketed in recent years.

The COMAC has said it will develop both 168-seat and 156-seat versions of the jet, with more models to be developed in the future.