Airbus to get a new A330 deal in China

Airbus hopes to win Chinese jet deal

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PARIS (Reuters) – European planemaker Airbus hopes to win a Chinese jet order on Friday worth more than $2 billion (1.1 billion pounds), Airbus Chief Executive Noel Forgeard says.

The order is for 20 Airbus A330 wide-body jets that are destined for Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines, Forgeard told reporters on the margins of a ceremony at the French prime minister’s office.

“I have high hopes that it will be signed tomorrow,” Forgeard said on Thursday.

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan, who is visiting France this week, are expected to announce the order following a meeting at the prime minister’s office at 10 a.m. British time.

The order would be the second large Chinese order for Airbus in the last two months. In April the country’s largest carrier, China Southern Airlines, signed a deal for 21 narrow-body A320 and A319 jets.

It comes only days after U.S. low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU – news) announced it would exercise options to purchase 30 new Airbus jets.

The Chinese and JetBlue orders provide a major boost to Airbus’s 2004 order book, which the jetmaker announced earlier on Thursday stood at 73 jets at the end of May.

Airbus has said it expects to receive orders for a total of about 250 jets this year.

Airbus rival Boeing hopes to win orders from China for its new 7E7 jet this year.