China Southern Airlines signs for 96 Airbus A320neo in deal worth over $12B

China Southern Airlines (ZNH) has signed a deal with Airbus to buy 96 A320neo aircraft, just weeks after reportedly changing plans for deliveries of Boeing aircraft.

The 96 aircraft, with a list price of over $12 billion, will be delivered between 2024 and 2027, the airline said in a stock exchange announcement on July 1, 2022.

As is usual in industry negotiations, China Southern said it was paying less than list prices and that it had used the current environment to aim for better purchase conditions. The aircraft will boost its capacity by about 13%, China Southern estimated.

The Airbus order comes after a Bloomberg report on May 18, 2022, that China Southern had removed over 100 Boeing 737 MAX deliveries from its near-term delivery schedules running up to 2024.