In what is a deal that would be worth a total of almost $23 billion at list prices, aircraft maker Airbus announced on Wednesday that it has signed an agreement to sell 140 aircraft to China.
Airbus said that a total of 100 A320 family aircraft and 40 A350 planes would be included in the agreement that was signed during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Germany.
"It's one of the biggest deals that we've signed in a long time," Airbus Group Chief Executive Tom Enders told journalists after signing the deal in Berlin.
The planes would be allocated to the various Chinese airlines after they are bought by the state-owned China Aviation Supplies Holding Company.
While the majority of the A350 orders that have been placed are for the -900 model, the A320 planes will be a mixture of the older CEO and the new NEO version with revamped engines. However, pending negotiations with the airlines, there can be alterations to the deal as it is a flexible one.
The Airbus final assembly line in China would be the place where, it is expected that by the company that up to 50 percent of the A320 family planes would come from, Enders said during the announcement.
Very recently, there has been a recent merger between the parent company pf Airbus and its dominant planemaking arm which has resulted in changes that included a shift in the reporting line for its commercial sales team to Enders and this is a new organizational structure that has been rolled out by the company. And since that change and reorganization of the company structure, this was the first public appearance that Enders was making.
The fact that within his capacity and in his new role as group-wide chief operating officer, commercial aircraft head Fabrice Bregier had been given more tasks has been reflected by the shift in reporting lines for the sales team, Enders said.
Enders said the shake-up allows Bregier to concentrate on deliveries - with orders slowing and the focus shifting to the backlog.
"This is merely a burden sharing mechanism because the focus should be on execution and this is what it's all about," Enders said.
"We have plenty of challenges on the execution side, be it the transition to the NEO, the ramp-up of the A320 family, the 350 family, not to mention the A400M, which is not entirely solved," he said.
The A380 superjumbo, which has suffered slow sales, is also on the radar of the Chinese and Enders also said the group was in talks with the Chinese over the A380 superjumbo.
"It won't happen overnight. It has to be intensively discussed," he said.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
Airbus said that a total of 100 A320 family aircraft and 40 A350 planes would be included in the agreement that was signed during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Germany.
"It's one of the biggest deals that we've signed in a long time," Airbus Group Chief Executive Tom Enders told journalists after signing the deal in Berlin.
The planes would be allocated to the various Chinese airlines after they are bought by the state-owned China Aviation Supplies Holding Company.
While the majority of the A350 orders that have been placed are for the -900 model, the A320 planes will be a mixture of the older CEO and the new NEO version with revamped engines. However, pending negotiations with the airlines, there can be alterations to the deal as it is a flexible one.
The Airbus final assembly line in China would be the place where, it is expected that by the company that up to 50 percent of the A320 family planes would come from, Enders said during the announcement.
Very recently, there has been a recent merger between the parent company pf Airbus and its dominant planemaking arm which has resulted in changes that included a shift in the reporting line for its commercial sales team to Enders and this is a new organizational structure that has been rolled out by the company. And since that change and reorganization of the company structure, this was the first public appearance that Enders was making.
The fact that within his capacity and in his new role as group-wide chief operating officer, commercial aircraft head Fabrice Bregier had been given more tasks has been reflected by the shift in reporting lines for the sales team, Enders said.
Enders said the shake-up allows Bregier to concentrate on deliveries - with orders slowing and the focus shifting to the backlog.
"This is merely a burden sharing mechanism because the focus should be on execution and this is what it's all about," Enders said.
"We have plenty of challenges on the execution side, be it the transition to the NEO, the ramp-up of the A320 family, the 350 family, not to mention the A400M, which is not entirely solved," he said.
The A380 superjumbo, which has suffered slow sales, is also on the radar of the Chinese and Enders also said the group was in talks with the Chinese over the A380 superjumbo.
"It won't happen overnight. It has to be intensively discussed," he said.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
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