PARIS, Dec 5: China signed its biggest-ever deal with European aircraft maker Airbus on Monday, ordering 150 mid-range planes with a value of nearly $10 billion during a visit by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

The contract, signed by Airbus chief executive Gustav Humbert and the president of the China Aviation Supplies Import and Export Group, Li Hai, covers aircraft from Airbus’s A320 family of single-aisle planes, which typically seat up to 185 passengers.

It is nominally worth around $9.7 billion based on catalogue prices but an undisclosed discount was applied, as often occurs for large orders.

President Jacques Chirac, who met Wen just before the signing, welcomed an “important cooperation protocol” China and Airbus signed on Sunday that opened the way for the purchase contract.—AFP