Airline News
China firm signs $18 billion deal for A330s
July 6th 2015
Mainland Chinese aircraft procurement firm, China Aviation Supplies Holding (CAS), last week signed a “general terms agreement” for 45 A330-family aircraft, as well as an MOU for 30 options, at a combined value of approximately $18 billion at current list prices. Read More » At press time, it was unclear whether the order included commitments for Airbus’s newly-launched A330 Regional, previously dubbed an ideal aircraft to help deal with China’s domestic congestion. Meanwhile, This Week in Asia-Pacific Aviation understands that at least part of the new A330 commitments is for Pudong-based China Eastern Airlines.
In the presence of Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, and French prime minister, Manuel Valls, Airbus president and chief executive, Fabrice Brégier, called the order “a new vote of confidence in [the] A330 family aircraft,” and added the A330 was “already the most popular widebody aircraft in China, the most important market for aviation in the world”. Airbus forecast China will become the leading market for both international and domestic passenger traffic, requiring more than 5,300 new 100-plus-seat aircraft by 2033.
Airbus and its Chinese partners, the Tianjin Free Trade Zone Investment Company and the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), signed a framework agreement on setting up an A330 completion and delivery facility in Tianjin, taking the partnership between Airbus and the Mainland another step forward following the successful establishment of an A320-family final assembly line in 2008.
In other China news, China Aircraft Leasing Group has signed a letter of intent with Turkish Pegasus Airlines to lease two new CFM56-5B4-engined A320s, scheduled for delivery in June 2016. When the contractual details are completed, the Turkish budget carrier will become CALC’s first European customer in Europe.
Separately, Ningxia Cargo Airlines has completed its air operator’s certification with the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) in time for a September domestic launch. Quoting local media outlets, China's WCARN says the start-up's fleet of three ex-Zhejiang Loong Airlines B737-300Fs will exit the paint shop in August. Ningxia hopes to expand its fleet to fifty aircraft and offer B747F services to Europe, the Middle East and the U.S.
