China Southern to buy 20 Airbus jets for close to $6b

China Southern Airlines has signed a deal worth nearly $6b to buy 20 aircraft from Airbus, the Chinese carrier said Wednesday. China's largest airline by passenger numbers has agreed to buy 20 A350-900 jets, each with a price tag of $298.9m, it said in a stock exchange filing. The planes will be delivered between 2019 and 2022 and will be funded through China Southern's own funds and loans from commercial banks, the company said. China is gearing up for a major joint China-Europe aviation safety conference in Shanghai on Thursday as Beijing looks to raise its profile in the global aviation market. Chinese planemaker COMAC is expected to stage the maiden flight of its C919 jet in the coming weeks as the company looks to compete with Boeing and Airbus for a slice of global jet sales worth $2t over the next 20 years. <br/>