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China orders 150 Airbus jets worth $9.7b
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-05 20:12
China ordered 150 Airbus single-aisle passenger jets on
Monday in a deal worth some $9.7 billion at list prices, boosting European
industry during a visit to France by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.
French President Jacques Chirac (L) greets
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in the courtyard of the Elysee Palace in Paris
December 5, 2005. China's Premier Wen is on the second day of a four-day
visit to France. Airbus looked close to seizing a giant order for at least
100 single-aisle jets from China on Monday, in a boost for the
Toulouse-based jetmaker on the second day of a French visit by Wen.
[Reuters] |
Top French and Chinese aviation
officials signed the deal alongside a batch of other industrial orders following
talks between Wen and his French counterpart Dominique de Villepin.
Other agreements include a deal between China and Eurocopter, the world's
largest civilian helicopter maker, to produce a 6 tonne helicopter, and a
150-million-euro Chinese order for a high-speed Shitai railway link.
Both Airbus and Eurocopter are subsidiaries of European aerospace firm EADS .
China also ordered a telecoms satellite from Alcatel Alenia Space .
The jet deal comes a day after Airbus agreed with Wen to look at expanding
the assembly lines for single-aisle aircraft outside Europe for the first time
by building a site in China.
The A320 family of single-aisle jets comprises four aircraft capable of
seating 107 to 185 passengers.
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