Air China, China’s major airline, has entered into an agreement with COMAC, a major Chinese state-owned aerospace company, to purchase 100 C919 extended-range aircraft. The value of the contract, according to the latest price catalog provided by COMAC, amounts to approximately 10,800 million US dollars, equivalent to 84,240 million HK dollars.
Thanks to negotiations between the parties, COMAC granted Air China “significant price concessions”, as reported in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, making the final price lower than the initially indicated base price.
Payment for the purchase will be made in cash and divided into installments. Air China plans to start receiving the aircraft in several stages, starting from 2024 until 2031, in line with its development plan and market needs. This agreement is aimed at facilitating the optimization of the fleet structure and the long-term integration of capacity. The transaction is estimated to increase fleet capacity by approximately 7.5%, based on the number of tonne-kilometres available as of 31 December 2023, without considering any future adjustments to the fleet, such as the retirement of aircraft due to ageing. or market conditions.