Airbus signs deal to sell 140 planes to China

AIRBUS-FRANCE

Airbus has signed an agreement to sell 140 aircraft to China, it said on Wednesday, in a deal worth around $23 billion at list prices.

The agreement, signed during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Germany, is for 100 A320 family aircraft and 40 A350 planes, Airbus said.

The planes will be purchased by state-owned China Aviation Supplies Holding Company, which will then allocate the planes to Chinese airlines.

Airbus group CEO Tom Enders said the group was also in talks with the Chinese over the A380 super jumbo, which has suffered slow sales.

"It won't happen overnight. It has to be intensively discussed," he told journalists.

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Maria Sheahan)