20080711_gallery-a320-takeoff.jpg (Photo : www.daecapital.com)
China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings Ltd. is set to purchase 100 airplanes for a lump sum of $10.2 billion from Airbus Group NV. The leasing firm is aiming to further expand its business by establishing a good portfolio.
CALC will be ordering 100 single-aisle A320 airplanes. The order includes current A320 models and newer ones fitted with new plane engines.
According to CALC's statement, an official contract may be inked by the two parties before November ends.
Due to the growing aviation demand from India, China and the Southeast Asian region, leasing firms are looking to expand further by increasing the size of their fleets in all of Asia. Chinese lessors are also expected to take the place of the U.S. as the biggest plane market in the world.
China is urging domestic leasing firms to seek opportunities in the foreign markets. Li Ka-shing, a Hong Kong billionaire and investor who owns Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd., has recently sent an initial proposal to purchase some airplanes from AWAS Aviation Capital Ltd.
The recent pledge from CALC came after the European airline company also won a pledge for $26-billion-worth of 250 planes from IndiGo. More Asian countries, including China, are expected to purchase more planes as more people travel due to continuing economic growth.
CALC became the first South East Asian airline lessor to go public back in July. A month after that, it signed its first leasing contract with a foreign carrier, Air India Ltd., to begin leasing five A320s from Airbus Group NV in 2015.
The European airline manufacturer also won another pledge for 70 of its A320 planes worth $7 billion from China in October.
Airbus said that China is estimated to become the biggest plane market in the world in the following 20 years.
