Air China said Saturday it had ordered 100 Airbus A320 series medium-range single-aisle passenger jets, which carry a catalogue price of $8.8 billion, according to a filing posted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Air China, listed both in Shanghai and Hong Kong, said that it would purchase 60 of the aircraft for itself and 40 would be bought by its subsidiary Shenzhen Airlines.
The airline group said it "expects the Airbus aircraft will deliver more cost-efficient performance and provide more comfortable service to passengers."
The transaction will strengthen the fleet capacity of Air China by about 15.9 percent based on the number of available ton-kilometers by the end of last year.
It said the aircraft were worth $8.8 billion at catalogue price but that "the Airbus Company has granted (Air China) significant price concessions."
The exact amount of the discount remains to be negotiated.
The new aircraft are set to be delivered in stages from 2014 to 2020, and the company said it would fund the purchases from a mix of cash generated from operations, commercial bank loans and other financial instruments.
Airbus has a factory in China that assembles A320 series aircraft.
The statement also said Airbus had agreed to buy back six A340-series aircraft from Air China based on an earlier arrangement.
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