Beijing: China Southern Airlines Co, Asia’s largest carrier by number of passengers, ordered 110 planes valued at about $10 billion in list prices from Boeing Co, two months after the planemaker agreed to build an assembly plant for single-aisle planes in China.
The Guangzhou-based airline will buy 30 737NG and 50 737MAX models, valued at $7.24 billion at list prices, the company said in a statement Thursday. The prices are before discounts, which are typical in the industry. China Southern’s unit Xiamen Airlines also agreed to buy 30 737MAX planes for a total of $2.88 billion before discounts, China Southern said in a separate exchange filing.
Asian air travel growth is lifting orders for planemakers Boeing and Airbus Group SE, with China forecast to surpass the US as the world’s largest aircraft market within the next 20 years. The country’s economic expansion is making air travel affordable to more people, prompting carriers such as Air China Ltd. and China Southern to increase their fleets. China is also forecast to become the world’s biggest air travel market, according to Boeing.
The plane fleet in China will surge to 7,210 by 2034 from 2,570 last year, Boeing said in August. The Chicago-based company forecast China will need 6,330 new planes worth $950 billion in the next two decades.
In September, during President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the U.S., Boeing signed a deal to build a 737 aircraft completion center in China. At the time, Chinese companies handed the planemaker orders for 300 jets. Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd., also known as Comac, will be Boeing’s partner for the completion center.
Bloomberg
