France eyes major Airbus deal at China summit

PARIS. November 3. KAZINFORM European planemaker Airbus is in negotiations that could lead to the sale of around 100 passenger planes to China during a November 4-5 visit to France by President Hu Jintao, sources familiar with the matter said. The potential $10 billion deal dominates a list of contracts sought by French-based companies in a week which could also see preliminary contacts between China and Dassault Aviation over co-operation in business jets, the sources said; Kazinform refers to China Daily.

EADS subsidiary Airbus declined to comment on the prospect of an aircraft deal to mark the summit.

"The summit is a political event between governments. Airbus is a corporate company," a spokesman said on Tuesday. "As a principle we never comment on negotiations with our customers."

Sources familiar with the matter said there have been intense negotiations in the days leading up to the summit, reflected in a wide range of estimates of the number of planes involved, which would depend in turn on narrowing differences over price.

One source said the number of planes to be pencilled into a final batch of economic agreements set to be announced on Thursday ranged anywhere from zero to the "usual range."

That phrase is a reference to deals involving about 150 aircraft each struck at two previous state visits to China by President Nicolas Sarkozy and his predecessor Jacques Chirac.

Airbus's arch-rival Boeing grabbed a similar deal during a visit by former President George Bush, with big-ticket orders often described as a tool to maintain balanced relations; Kazinform cites China Daily.

See www.chinadaily.com.cn for full version.