Newsstand - China orders 150 Airbus narrow body jets

China ordered 150 Airbus single-aisle passenger jets on Monday in a deal worth some $9.7 billion at list prices, boosting European industry during a visit to France by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao

http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh4153 4_2005-12-05_12-00-31_pac005502_newsml

I said GWB's verbal gaffe would result in a call to TLS. :D

Seriously, after ordering 70 737s from Boeing (it was to be 150, as well, but China is holding back 80 for a few months to express their annoyance at GWB), an equal order (in this case, the full 150) from Airbus was not unexpected, as China likes to balance their orders to keep both of their trading partners (US and EU) on more or less an equal-footing.

On the plus side for Boeing, they will have a nice 80-frame 737 order to start the new year off sometime in Q1 so as to "restore balance to the Force".

At least China should have ordered a competitive Boeing model, not to build a new 737 is still the worst decision ever made by Boeing which results in discounting the birds like crazy, it was even rumoured that they had to pay Ryanair to take delivery of the 737NG... :D

Still waiting for the big A 380 order from China tough :confused:

Considering what China wants in return for the order however is making the deal less attractive...

Once again the French are outsmarting the American President when it comes to aircraft sales, good old FJS would turn around in his grave :D

The 737NG competes quite favorably with the A319 and A320. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, but they're close enough that they both command a roughly 50-50 share in the market.

As for Ryanair, they got a heck of a good deal, but Boeing will make it up on the sheer volume of the order. And Airbus has been more then willing to cut profit to the bone to secure an order. EasyJet didn't buy all those A319s at list, to be sure. ;)

Larger Chinese orders for the A380 are probably in the future, I agree.

While focussing more and more on the big birds both Airbus and Boeing have to realise that their short haul models are getting really old, especially the 737 NG has a 40 year old fuselage and the A 320 is already turning 20, A 321 would have needed a new wing and engines anyway, but at least the A 319 is doing okay...

The 737NG fuselage design may be four decades old, but the electronics inside it and the wings that lift it most certainly are not.

That being said, the Yosemite 1 project will most certainly break from the 737 fuselage dimensions. There is talk of making it a twin-aisle widebody (2+2+2) to improve ingress and egress to speed turnaround times. As the 787 technology solidifies and matures, that will all be transferred over to Y1, as well. You can be sure it will be a mostly-composite airframe using bleedless engines like the 787.

Airbus will also be looking at mostly-composite airframes as well, I imagine, and probably trying to get to bleedless engines. Boeing will have the advantage of being more familiar with the technology, but Airbus engineers are smart cookies and they will be taking notes and working on adapting the technologies.

I expect both Airbus and Boeing are heavily discounting their A320s and B737NGs to both Chinese and Indian airlines.

I personally cannot wait to see the A330 in both the Air China and China Southern liveries (ordered earlier this year). IMHO, many may disagree, A330 is the best plane Airbus has ever designed and built... love flying them!!

I also agree that the A380 will be ordered by a Chinese airlines in the near future, and my bet it will be China Eastern Airlines.