Airbus Lines Up $15 Billion in Asian Orders

BEIJING — Airbus said Wednesday that it had landed deals for about 160 aircraft worth nearly $15 billion with companies in China and Vietnam as it sought to expand its foothold in the fast-growing Asian market.

The European plane maker, which is battling Boeing in a Chinese market that it sees surpassing the United States by passenger numbers within 20 years, has also introduced a regional jet aimed at China. Domestic travel grew almost 10 percent last year in China, compared with less than 1 percent in the United States, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Airbus, like Boeing, has been working to increase its chances of winning orders by building a visible presence in China. The subsidiary of European Aeronautic Defense Space, or EADS, buys parts from Chinese state-owned aviation companies and assembles four single-aisle, short-range A320 aircraft a month in Tianjin.

Airbus has reached an in-principle agreement to extend the A320 assembly line beyond 2016, and eventually switch it to the A320neo, which runs on a new engine, the Airbus’s president and chief executive, Fabrice Brégier, said in an interview at the Aviation Expo China 2013 in Beijing.

At the exhibition, Airbus said Wednesday that it had made agreements with Chinese companies for almost 70 aircraft worth about $6 billion.

One order was for 13 A320 and 12 A320neo from BOC Aviation, the Singapore-based aircraft leasing arm of the Bank of China. Just last December, BOC Aviation ordered 50 aircraft in the A320 family.

Airbus also said it has signed deals with the fledgling carriers Zhejiang Loong Airlines and Qingdao Airlines for 20 and 23 A320-family aircraft, respectively, including both the A320 and A320neo. Zhejiang Loong Airlines expects to begin operations this year, and Qingdao Airlines expects to begin operations next year. Both deals require approval from the Chinese government before Airbus can add them to its backlog of more than 5,000 aircraft orders.

The list price of an A320 is $91.5 million, and that of an A320neo is $100.2 million.

Airbus also has modified its twin-aisle, long-haul A330-300 to make it optimal for shorter routes. The regional version of the A330-300 has an operational weight that is more than 200 tons less and yet can seat 30 percent more passengers on flights of up to 3,000 nautical miles, or 5,560 kilometers. It can also offer around 15 percent in savings from lower fuel and maintenance costs, Airbus said at the exhibition.

Airbus expects to sign up its first customer for the regional jet by early 2014, and hopes to sell hundreds over the next 10 years, said Mr. Brégier, the Airbus chief. It designed the new A330-300 to meet demand in high-density, short-haul markets like Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East and China in particular, he said.

Also Wednesday, the ambitious low-cost airline VietJet Air said it had agreed to buy up to 92 Airbus jets worth about $8.6 billion between 2014 and 2022.

The Vietnamese airline will buy mostly A320 planes using loans from foreign banks, its managing director, Luu Duc Khanh, said in a telephone interview from France.

Of the 92 jets, 62 were firm orders offered at list prices during the eight-year period, with a further 30 options to buy. The airline also planned to lease eight more planes.

The carrier will also aim for an initial public offering in either Hong Kong or Singapore in 2015 to pay for expansion beyond Vietnam, Mr. Khanh said.

“We are aiming to be a multinational budget airline,” Mr. Khanh said. “VietJet Air’s purpose is expanding to the regional market, not only in the domestic market, so we need to be in the overseas market in order to call in more capital.”

VietJet, which has been flying since December 2011, has a fleet of nine jets. It is the only private airline in Vietnam that offers domestic and international flights. At present, its only foreign destination is Bangkok.

The first two aircraft would be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2014 followed by between five and 10 jets each year until 2022, Mr. Khanh said.

The agreement was part of a package of industrial contracts signed in front of the French and Vietnamese prime ministers in France on Wednesday.

Airbus Lines Up $15 Billion in Asian Orders