China Eastern Airlines to purchase 15 A330s; dispose of five A340-300s to Airbus

China Eastern Airlines entered (17-Oct-2011) an agreement with Airbus for the purchase of 15 A330s. The carrier noted that aircraft basic price in aggregate is approximately USD2.532 billion although it received "significant price concessions" on the acquisition. The aircraft are scheduled for delivery in stages from 2013 to 2015. The aircraft will primarily be used to "satisfy the increasing demand of the domestic passenger air transportation as well as the international and regional medium-and-long-haul routes passenger air transportation in the coming years, and to increase the company's competitiveness in the passenger air transportation market". Based on capacity (ATKs) levels as at 31-Dec-2011, and without taking into consideration any further capacity adjustments, the new aircraft will increase the ATKs of the company by approximately 9.41%. The aircraft will be funded through bank loans from commercial banks. Simultaneously, the carrier entered into an disposal agreement covering five A340-300 aircraft. The five A340-300 aircraft are expected to be delivered to Airbus in stages in 2012. Based on capacity levels as at 31-Dec-2010 and without taking into consideration any further adjustments, the disposal will decrease the carrier's ATKs by approximately 3.68%. [more - original PR]