(Finance) – Air ChinaChina’s largest airline, has signed with COMACa state-owned Chinese aerospace company, a contract for thepurchase of 100 C919 aircraft (extended radius version).
According to the latest price catalog provided by COMAC, the contract has a value of approximately 10,800 million US dollars (equivalent to approximately HK$84,240 million). COMAC, however, granted the company “significant price concessions” – we read in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange – “after negotiations between the parties and, consequently, the actual consideration for the purchase of the aircraft is lower than the base price of the aircraft mentioned above”.
The total consideration will be payable in cash in installments. Air China plans to take delivery of the planes in several phases from 2024 to 2031.
The operation “is in line with the company’s development plan and market demandwhich favors the optimization of fleet structure and long-term integration of capacity”, is underlined. The operation is expected to increase fleet capacity by approximately 7.5%, based on the number of tonnes- kilometer available as of 31 December 2023 and without taking into account potential adjustments to the fleet, such as aircraft retirement due to market conditions and aging aircraft.