PARIS - China
signed a framework document on December 5 with
European aircraft maker Airbus for an order for
150 mid-range planes, worth nearly US$10 billion,
during Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's visit to
France. Airbus described the order as the largest
single order it has ever received since entering
the Chinese market two decades ago.
The
contract, signed by Airbus chief executive Gustav
Humbert and the president of the China Aviation
Supplies Import and Export Group, Li Hai, covers
aircraft from Airbus's A320 family of
single-aisle planes, which
typically seat up to 185 passengers. The deal was
signed in the presence of Wen Jiabao and his
French counterpart Dominique de Villepin.
The A320 family of single-aisle jets
comprises four aircraft capable of seating 107 to
185 passengers. The catalogue price of each A320
is $64.5 million. Airbus, owned 80% by the
European Aeronautic, Defense and Space (EADS)
Company and 20% by Britain's BAE Systems, is
seeking to topple US rival Boeing's dominance of
the Chinese civil aviation sector by clawing its
way up to a 50% market share. It currently has
only around a third, compared to Boeing's 60%.
Boeing last month notched up firm orders
for 70 of its 737-series mid-range planes, with
options for another 80, during a visit to China by
US President George W Bush. China said it would be
buying between 1,800 and 2,700 planes from the two
companies, which are the world's leading
commercial airline manufacturers, over the next
two decades.
On the afternoon of December
4, Wen visited Airbus' headquarters in Toulouse,
southwestern France, and attended the signing
ceremony for a memorandum of understanding between
the European aircraft maker and the National
Development and Reform Commission, China's main
economic planning body. The memorandum, which is
aimed at "a further upgrade of the cooperation"
between China's civil aviation industry and
Airbus, includes the "possibility" of building an
assembly plant for mid-range Airbus planes in
China.
Wen, accompanied by a 70-member
delegation, is on a four-day visit to France, the
first leg of a European tour which will also take
him to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Portugal.
On Monday morning, Wen met French President
Jacques Chirac. Both leaders spoke highly of the
bilateral relations between France and China and
reached a wide range of understanding on important
strategic issues between the two countries. Wen
also met with French national assembly speaker
Jean-Louis Debre on relations between their two
countries. Wen will leave France on December 7.
