Air China airline said it had agreed to buy 20 Airbus 320 aircraft in an effort to expand its fleet size to meet the growing demand for energy.Prices listed are for the aircraft is 1.6 billion dollars, but Airbus granting “significant price concessions,” Air China said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exhange Wednesday night.But the company was not willing to say how much he must pay. “The company estimates that Airbus delivery done in several stages from 2011 until 2014,” the airline said it again.”The transaction will strengthen the company’s fleet capacity,” he added.
Air China said at the Singapore Airshow earlier this month that the company’s fleet is expected to expand to 400 aircraft in five to six years, up from 243 aircraft in late June last year.Vice president of Air China Li He said that air traffic is estimated to exceed the country’s 700 million passengers within 10 years and doubled to 1.5 billion in the next 20 years, said Dow Jones Newswires.China’s passenger traffic expected to increase 13 percent in 2010 compared to 2009 to 260 million passengers, while cargo volume will grow 12 percent to 4.98 million tons, according to official predictions.
