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Associated Press
China Southern Orders Five Airbus A380s
Friday January 28, 3:45 pm ET
China Southern Airlines Orders Five Airbus A380 'Superjumbos'; Airbus Has 154 A380s on Order
PARIS (AP) -- China Southern Airlines signed an order Friday for five Airbus A380 "superjumbos," a major breakthrough for the European aircraft maker in one of the world's most promising aircraft markets.
China Southern's chairman Liu Shaoyong and Airbus CEO Noel Forgeard inked the deal, worth $1.4 billion (1.07 billion euros) at catalog prices, at a ceremony hosted by French Transport Minister Gilles de Robien.
Liu said he hoped the 555-seater A380, due to enter service next year, "will help China become a powerful civil aviation giant."
The deal, announced by the French Transport Ministry on Wednesday, takes to 154 the total number of A380 orders on Airbus' books -- well over halfway toward the 250 planes it needs to sell to break even.
Over the next two decades, Airbus predicts global demand for about 1,250 planes larger the 747, the largest plane currently offered by its rival, and expects 750 of those to be A380s.
Forgeard said China Southern would take delivery of its first A380s in time for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
China is a key battleground in the trans-Atlantic aerospace rivalry. Another Chinese airline, Xiamen Airlines Co., announced Friday that it and five other Chinese carriers have ordered 60 mid-sized, long-range 7E7s from Boeing Co., delivering a major boost to the Chicago-based company.
China Southern Airlines is one of the other five, Xiamen said, along with Air China, China Eastern Airlines Co., Shanghai Airlines Co. and Hainan Airlines Co.