Deal Salvaged Following "A Dinner, A Meeting And A Lunch"

China continues to prove highly lucrative for Airbus. On Monday, the European planemaker announced it signed contracts with the Chinese government for 160 airliners, valued at roughly $15 billion at list prices.

The deal includes 110 orders for A320 Family narrowbody airliners, and 50 A330 widebodies, according to media reports. The deal was signed in Beijing, during the first state visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The deal was far from done just hours ago, however. Reuters reports China had decided to purchase just 30 aircraft... and the 160-plane deal was salvaged only after a series of high-level political talks.

French officials say Sarkozy was concerned that low order tally would be seen as a flop -- since his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, was able to secure a 150-plane order. Hence, the last minute wrangling.

"A dinner, a meeting and a lunch," was how one official close to Sarkozy described the process. As a result, Sarkozy may return to France with the largest-ever order for Airbus planes from China.

As ANN reported, Airbus began work earlier this year on a Chinese A320 plant, ahead of expected significant orders from the region for the popular single-aisle plane. The new plant, located in Tianjian, is expected to build its first A320 in 2009, reports The Associated Press, with expected output of 300 planes per year by 2016.

Both Airbus and rival Boeing predict China will become the second largest market for aircraft in the world, with anywhere from 1,900 to 2,600 planes ordered over the next 20 years.

Louis Gallois, CEO of Airbus parent-company EADS, told reporters he was unsure of the exact value of the new orders -- saying "he had not calculated it."

In any case, the deal is a shot in the arm for Airbus... which is currently stymied financially by the weak performance of the US dollar against the euro, and recently-announced delays to the A400M military transport turboprop program.

FMI: www.airbus.com