Airbus lands record order for 292 planes from four Chinese airlines for 35 billion

Airbus has signed orders from the airlines Air China, China Eastern, China Southern and Shenzen Airlines for a total of 292 aircraft of the A320 family, the European company announced on Friday.

The aeronautical manufacturer did not specify the economic value of these contracts, but it is estimated that it may amount to 37,000 million dollars (35,000 million euros), which represents a new record order.

The commercial manager of Airbus, Christian Scherer, has underlined the "strong confidence in Airbus of its customers" and has congratulated itself for the "excellent" work of its teams in China.

China Eastern Airlines will buy 100 aircraft, while Air China has ordered 64 aircraft, and together with Shenzhen Airlines plans to purchase 32 more.

China Southern Airlines has announced that it will buy 96 A320neos.

The Chinese market is key for Airbus, which competes with Boeing in the race for orders, at a time of growing tension in addition to Europe and the United States with Beijing.

As of the end of May, Chinese airlines had a total of 2,070 Airbus aircraft in their fleets.

The A320neo, the new generation of the single-aisle family, have engines and wing devices that have reduced fuel consumption by 20% and noise by 50% compared to the previous generation.

As of last month, the manufacturer has sold more than 8,000 A320neo aircraft worldwide and has delivered 2,200 since the first were put into service six years ago.