"China Aviation Supplies Holding Company (CAS) has signed with Airbus a General Terms Agreement (GTA) for the purchase of a total of 140 aircraft. The agreement comprises of 100 A320 Family aircraft and 40 A350 XWB Family aircraft, reflecting the strong demand of Chinese airlines in all market segments including domestic, low cost, regional and international long haul," Airbus said in a statement.
The agreement was signed in Berlin by Airbus CEO Tom Enders and Executive Vice President of CAS Sun Bo in the presence of visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The deal value is undisclosed, but market experts estimated it at 20 billion euros ($22.8 billion), based on list prices.
According to Airbus’ latest Global Market Forecast 2017-2036, the world’s passenger aircraft fleet above 100 seats is set to more than double in the next 20 years to over 40,000 planes amid 4.4-percent average annual increase in traffic driven by emerging markets like China.
The Airbus A320 series of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin-engine jet airliners was launched in 1988. Since then, such planes had carried more than 11.5 billion passengers in 103 million flights. It is produced in four sizes (A318, A319, A320 & A321) seating 100-240 passengers.
The Airbus A350 XWB Family features long-range twin-engine wide-body jet airliners able to carry 280-366 passengers. The planes boast carbon-fibre fuselage and wings, new fuel-effective Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine, as well as capability of performing flights of up to 19 hours.
