Airbus gets China aircraft leasing $10 billion commitment

Boeing rival Airbus Group NV won a pledge from China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings Ltd. for the purchase of 100 planes valued at $10.2 billion as Chinese lessor seeks to build a portfolio to power expansion in the region.

The order is for 100 single-aisle A320 planes, a combination of existing models and future neos with new engines, the Tianjin, China-based company said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange today. A formal agreement may be signed before the end of the month, it said.

Leasing companies are boosting their fleet and expanding across Asia as the region is set to overtake the U.S. as the world's largest plane market, spurred by demand from China, India and Southeast Asia. Last month, China said it will encourage its lessors to look for opportunities overseas. Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd. has submitted a preliminary proposal for some planes of Awas Aviation Capital Ltd.

Today's agreement comes less than a month after Airbus won a commitment for 250 planes valued at $26 billion in list price from Indian budget carrier IndiGo. Carriers in China, India and other Asian countries are buying more planes as economic growth lifts demand for air travel.

CALC in July became the first plane lessor in the region to go public, and has been seeking to expand throughout Asia. In August it signed an agreement with state-owned carrier Air India Ltd. to lease five Airbus Group NV A320s starting next yea. That was the company's first leasing pact with a non-Chinese carrier.

Last month, Airbus also won an agreement from China for 70 A320 single-aisle family planes valued at $7 billion. China is poised to displace the U.S. as the world's largest plane market in two decades, according to the European planemaker.