China Southern orders 80 Airbus A320 planes

China Southern Airlines, which has the biggest fleet of aircraft in China, ordered on Friday 80 medium-haul Airbus A320 planes with a list value of $7.9 billion, Airbus said. The deal, worth a headline equivalent of 5.8 billion euros, is for 30 of the existing models of the A320 and for 50 of the more energy-efficient A320Neo planes, Airbus said. China Southern Airlines, in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange, said that it had obtained a discount from the list prices, as is usual in the airline industry. The aircraft are to be delivered from 2016 to 2020. China Southern Airlines already has a fleet of 249 Airbus aircraft, including five superjumbo A380 planes. The airline, in its stock market statement, said that the latest planes ordered would increase its capacity as measured by tonnes carried per kilometre by 12.0 percent. Airliner manufacturers, principally Airbus and its US rival Boeing, took bumper orders for new aircraft last year as airlines looked to renew their fleets after the financial crisis, and to gear up for forecast strong growth in airline traffic, particularly in emerging markets, in Asia and in China.