Four Chinese Airlines Purchase 292 A320 Family Aircraft

Airbus has scored a victory in its ongoing war with Boeing for dominance in the Asian commercial aircraft market. The European air-framer has penned deals with Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, and Shenzhen Airlines for a whopping 292, A320-Family aircraft.

The order is worth more than $73-billion and speaks to the post COVID recovery of both the aerospace industry and the Chinese aviation sector.

One-hundred of the order’s A320neo aircraft will go to China Eastern Airlines. Air China will receive 64-airplanes with another 32 going to its subsidiary, Shenzhen Airlines. China Southern Airlines, in addition to purchasing 96 A320neos, will lease an additional 19.

Deliveries of the aforementioned aircraft will commence 2023 and continue through 2027. In the meantime, the Airbus fleet in-service with Chinese air-carriers numbers in excess of 2,070 aircraft.

The deal marks the first major aircraft orders placed by Chinese airlines in nearly three-years, and hints at the return of high-times to the Middle Kingdom. Historically Boeing’s largest customer in the region, China Southern axed more than one-hundred 737 MAX aircraft from its short-term fleet plans in 2022. The move was prompted by concerns that Boeing could not meet established delivery deadlines.

Notwithstanding enduring COVID-19 restrictions on travel within China, both Airbus and Boeing have aggressively curried favor with the nations air-carriers and its government. Once fully recovered, the Chinese commercial aircraft market will be among the world’s richest.

Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer and Head of International, stated: “These new orders demonstrate the strong confidence in Airbus from our customers. It is also a solid endorsement from our airline customers in China of the performance, quality, fuel efficiency, and sustainability of the world’s leading family of single-aisle aircraft.”

Since the type’s introduction in 2016, Airbus has recorded deliveries of more than 2,200, A320neo aircraft.

FMI: www.airbus.com/en