[photopress:air_China.jpg,full,alignright]Is the plural of Airbus, Airbuses? Logically, this must be so although it sounds odd. Thus Air China, one of the country’s three major airlines, has finalized an agreement to buy 23 Airbus A320 planes, part of an earlier commitment last October by the Chinese government to buy 150 of the jets. (Note the neat way the sentences get around the problem of writing Airbuses which may be right, but looks wrong.)
The majority state-owned airline said in a statement that the aircraft, to be delivered to Air China between January 2009 and December 2012, have a list price of $1.41 billion.
But, of course, Air China is getting a discount. No one is saying how much but it will almost certainly be more than somewhat. Airbus and U.S. rival Boeing usually sell their planes to airlines at discounts from list price.
In a statement Air China said, ‘We expect the transaction to increase operating capacity by 5.88%, and to help increase frequency of flights, departing originally from Chengdu.’
China’s other two major airlines are China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines.
Guangzhou-based China Southern has announced it has agreed to buy 25 B737-800 aircraft from Boeing and 20 A320 jets (or Airbuses if you will) from Airbus worth a total list price of $3.7 billion. The real price is never revealed.
Source: International Herald Tribune
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