Premier Wen to visit Airbus for part contracts
(Bloomberg)
Updated: 2005-11-30 15:17

Competition in China

China may place an order for Airbus A320 planes during Wen's visit to France, the Wall Street Journal said today, citing an airline executive. The size of the Airbus order and its value weren't specified in the report, which didn't identify the airline executive.

The Chinese foreign ministry's Zhao declined to say if an order would be signed in France.

Airbus has recorded orders for 66 planes this year in China valued at $8.3 billion, compared with 122 aircraft valued at $11.7 billion by Chicago-based Boeing.

China usually announces large import orders during an overseas trip by a government leader or a state visit by foreign dignitaries.

China Aviation Supplies Import & Export Group, a government- owned company that buys planes for the nation's airlines, last week signed a $4 billion order for 70 Boeing 737 planes and is in talks to buy another 80. The order was signed during a visit to Beijing by U.S. President George W. Bush.

There are 328 Airbus planes in service in China, about 34 percent of the nation's aviation market, Xinhua News Agency reported today, citing Airbus' China President Laurence Barron.

China's aviation manufacturers supply parts for half of the more than 3,700 Airbus planes in service worldwide, the aircraft maker said in August. Airbus plans to buy $60 million of parts in China in 2007, a fourfold increase from last year and raising the contracts to $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 $1.3 billion of parts in China by the end of 2010.