Travel News Today

Airbus is in talks over a possible deal to sell passenger jets to China during a state visit by President Nicolas Sarkozy later this month, two French sources familiar with the situation said.

Talks are also at an advanced stage over a deal to sell two nuclear power reactors built by France's Areva, the sources said.

«Nothing is certain but there are negotiations with the airlines and the nuclear plants are also being discussed,» a source close to the French government said.

«The nuclear dossier is the most advanced, in terms of both reactors and co-operation,» the source said.

EADS subsidiary Airbus declined to comment.

China's state buyers tend to order from either Airbus or Boeing, the world's only two makers of large airliners, in batches of up to 150 jets to meet the country's booming travel demand. The jets are then allocated to individual airlines.

Such purchases from Airbus or its US rival Boeing are often timed to coincide with formal state visits.

China bought 150 aircraft during the last visit by a French leader, former president Jacques Chirac, in October last year.

A year earlier, it bought 150 Boeing aircraft to coincide with a visit by US President George W Bush.

«There should be a whole range of things to sign in both the nuclear and aeronautic sectors,» a second source familiar with the official preparations of the trip said.

There were no details of the models involved, but a purchase of 100 single-aisle Airbus jets would be worth around USD$7 billion at list prices. Airbus has agreed to open an assembly plant in Tianjin from 2009. It also hopes to sell more wide-body planes.

Boeing says China will need 3,400 planes over the next 20 years, making it the world's fastest-growing aviation market.

In a sign of French expectations over the business at stake, Sarkozy's delegation is expected to include the head of Franco-German-Spanish aerospace group EADS, Louis Gallois, and other business leaders, organizers said.

(Reuters)