China Southern, Xiamen to buy 137 Airbus A320neo jets in $21.4B deal

China Southern Airlines and subsidiary Xiamen Airlines have agreed to buy 137 Airbus A320neo family aircraft, giving Airbus another major narrowbody order in China as the country’s largest carriers prepare for another round of fleet renewal.

China Southern said in a filing on April 29, 2026, that it will purchase 102 A320neo series aircraft from Airbus. Xiamen Airlines, which China Southern controls, will buy another 35 aircraft. The combined catalog price is about $21.4 billion, although airlines typically pay less than list price for large aircraft orders.

The aircraft will arrive over several years. China Southern expects deliveries from 2028 through 2032. Xiamen Airlines expects to receive its aircraft from 2029 through 2032.

The order gives China Southern more next-generation narrowbody capacity for domestic and regional flying, where the A320neo family competes with the Boeing 737 MAX and China’s COMAC C919.

China Southern already operates one of the world’s largest airline fleets, including Boeing 787, 777 and 737 aircraft, Airbus A350, A330 and A320 family aircraft, and COMAC C919 and C909 jets.

The company said in its 2025 annual report that its group fleet totaled 972 passenger and cargo aircraft at the end of 2025.

China Southern said China’s civil aviation industry carried more than 500 million air travelers in 2025, making China the world’s largest aviation market by passenger volume.

For Airbus, the deal extends its strong position in China at a time when the manufacturer has been adding industrial capacity there. Airbus opened a second A320-family final assembly line in Tianjin in October 2025, part of a wider plan to raise A320-family production to 75 aircraft per month by 2027.

The Tianjin expansion gave Airbus 10 A320-family final assembly lines worldwide, including lines in Europe, the US and China.

Other Chinese aircraft buyers have also moved toward Airbus narrowbodies. Air China disclosed plans in December 2025 to buy 60 A320neo aircraft with deliveries from 2028 to 2032. China Aircraft Leasing also agreed to buy 30 A320neo aircraft, with staged deliveries through 2033.

The Airbus order comes as Boeing looks for its own China market breakthrough. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg told Reuters last week that the company needs support from the administration of US President Donald Trump to close a potential major aircraft order from Chinese airlines, saying a near-term deal would be unlikely without that help.

The possible Boeing deal has been tied to a planned May meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping and could include hundreds of 737 MAX aircraft.The post China Southern, Xiamen to buy 137 Airbus A320neo jets in $21.4B deal appeared first on AeroTime.

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