Airbus signs agreements for 68 planes

There will be 5,357 new aircraft delivered to China in the next 20 years, including 3,602 single-aisle planes such as the A320, Boeing 737 and C919, the plane that the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd unveiled at the aviation expo. And China will need 1,029 twin-aisle airplanes by 2032, according to a COMAC market outlook.

To meet demand for wide-body airplanes on regional and domestic routes, Airbus announced a new, lower-weight variant of the A330-300 in Beijing on Wednesday.

China will be one of the most important markets for the new version.

"Due to the fact that China's air traffic is growing very fast and the traffic flow is mostly concentrated in megacities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the new A330 is a perfect solution for domestic air travel in China," said Bregier.

Compared with the current long-range A330-300, the new version can achieve an overall cost reduction of up to 15 percent, said Eric Chen, president of Airbus China.

The new version of the A330 is available for delivery from 2015, he added, but there are so far no orders for the plane.

Boeing Co - Airbus' main rival - does not fear competition from the new version of the A330.

"It isn't a real new product," said Marc Allen, president of Boeing China. It's just a change of "birth certificate", he said, not a new baby.

Boeing is also working on solutions for regional wide-body travel. The Boeing 787-family aircraft will be suitable for these routes, he said.

Boeing didn't announce its goal for orders from China this year. Boeing had delivered more than 100 aircraft to China as of this month, with more than 120 scheduled for delivery for the full year.