On March 25, China Eastern Airlines officially issued an announcement announcing that it had completed a contract with Airbus in Shanghai and spent approximately 108.893 billion yuan to purchase 101 Airbus A320NEO series aircraft, which are scheduled to be delivered successively from 2028 to 2032.The aircraft models ordered by China Eastern Airlines include A320NEO, A321NEO and A321XLR. It is one of the largest single narrow-body aircraft orders in my country’s civil aviation industry in recent years.
According to the delivery plan, 9 aircraft will be delivered in 2028, 19 in 2029, 30 in 2030, 27 in 2031, and 16 in 2032.
China Eastern Airlines stated that the newly introduced fleet will strongly support the company’s development strategy of “flying to distant places, flying to international destinations, and flying to emerging markets.”This transaction has been reviewed by the board of directors and needs to be submitted to the shareholders' meeting and relevant state departments for approval before it can officially take effect.
China Eastern Airlines also disclosed that it is expected that during the delivery cycle from 2028 to 2032, at least 53 A320 series aircraft will be withdrawn from operation due to lease expiration or aging. The 101 aircraft purchased this time will be used in part to replace and update existing models and optimize the fleet structure.
After multiple rounds of commercial negotiations, the actual transaction price enjoyed a significant discount compared to Airbus's basic catalog price. In terms of funds, China Eastern Airlines plans to coordinate payment through its own funds, commercial bank loans, bond issuance and other financing methods.
It is worth mentioning that Airbus has recently received large orders in the Chinese market and has strong momentum. On March 25, Air China’s first extraordinary shareholders’ meeting in 2026 will also consider relevant proposals for the introduction of 60 A320NEO series aircraft.
Air China had previously signed an agreement with Airbus on December 30, 2025, and planned to purchase 60 passenger aircraft of the same series to optimize the fleet and supplement long-term capacity. The delivery cycle is also from 2028 to 2032.
In addition, in recent months, Airbus has successively received orders for 25 A320 series aircraft from Juneyao Airlines (total transaction price of US$4.1 billion) and orders for 30 A320neo series aircraft from Spring Airlines (list price not exceeding US$4.128 billion), becoming the core choice for many domestic airlines to upgrade their fleets.
