China signs $17bn deal to buy 130 Airbus aircraft as it battles Boeing for dominance
China has signed a $17bn contract to buy 130 aircraft from Europe's Airbus, which has its headquarters in Germany and France; earlier this year Airbus had agreed to build a new assembly facility in China's Tianjin.  This follows a deal in September between China and its rival, US-based Boeing, to order 300 jets and build a 737 aircraft completion centre.  These deals add weight to Boeing's estimate that demand for new planes from China will reach $1tn over the next two decades, along with the prediction that China will become the world's largest air passenger market by 2034,

China and Germany signed a deal on Thursday that will see Chinese airlines buy 30 A330 aeroplanes manufactured by Airbus Group.



The order, valued at 17 billion euros ($18.57 billion), was announced after Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel met China's Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing.

Airbus is battling Boeing Co for dominance of the Chinese market, where Boeing estimates demand for new planes to reach $1 trillion over the next two decades.