Airbus in talks to sell over 100 widebody jets to Chinese airlines, Bloomberg reports

FILE PHOTO: An Airbus A330neo aircraft performs during the inauguration of the 53rd International Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, France, June 17, 2019. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/Pool/File Photo

(Reuters) - Airbus SE is negotiating a major sale of A330neo aircraft to China, with some of the largest Chinese airlines considering buying more than 100 of the upgraded A330 models, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

The terms are still being discussed and the timing is uncertain, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Airbus declined to respond to the Bloomberg report and said that it does not comment on confidential discussions that may or may not be taking place with customers.

The details of the deal come on the heels of a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, last month.

Reuters reported in April that France-based Airbus was in preliminary talks over a potentially major order with China, the world's second-largest aviation market.

Airbus has previously said it expects China's traffic to grow by 5.3% annually over the next two decades, outstripping a global average of 3.6%.

In April last year, the company agreed to build a second assembly line for its A320neo narrow-body family in the country during a state visit by Macron.

In the past, China has tended to split jet purchases between Airbus and Boeing but deals with the U.S. planemaker have slowed significantly in recent years amid trade or political tensions.

(Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh and Gursimran Kaur; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Savio D'Souza)