Nearly 250 billion yuan!Why did the three domestic airlines reach the largest order in history?

On July 1, the three largest domestic airlines, South Airlines, China Air China, and China China Eastern Airlines issued an announcement. They signed a purchase agreement with the European aircraft manufacturing giant air passenger cars -a total of 292 A320NEO series aircraft, the total purchase amount, the total purchase amount It will reach 37.257 billion US dollars (about RMB 249.1 billion). This transaction is the largest number of aircraft purchases of aircraft purchase orders and the highest order amount. At the same time, it is also the first time that China's civil aviation industry has announced the large -scale passenger aircraft orders for the first time in the past three years.

The 292 aircraft ordered by the three major airlines to Airbus are A320neo series aircraft. The announcement shows that China Air China and the holding subsidiary Shenzhen Airlines purchased a total of 96 aircraft, with a total price of approximately US $ 12.213 billion; China China Eastern Airlines purchased 100 sets of about 12.796 billion US dollars; Southern Airlines purchased 96 settlements, and the basic price was about approximate. $ 12.248 billion. The aircraft ordered the three major airlines will be delivered from 2023 to 2027.

Why did the three major airlines reach the largest order in history? Why does this "group purchase" order choose Airbus A320NEO? 249.1 billion yuan is not a decimal. Where does this money come from under the impact of the epidemic? In the case of the downturn in the aviation industry, do you buy a signal of a comprehensive recovery of China's civil aviation industry?

The main reason for optimizing the structure of the fleet and long -term capacity

At present, the aviation market has not yet fully recovered, so why is the three major airlines in this node signing the largest order in history?

綦 Qi Qi, an expert on the high -quality development research center of China Civil Aviation and Associate Professor of Guangzhou Civil Aviation Vocational and Technical College: It can be said that it is a compensation consumption. Because there are many uncertainty during the entire epidemic period, it is difficult for airlines to decide the number of large -scale procurement aircraft. At present, we see that the entire signal of aviation recovery is relatively strong. At this moment, airlines buying related models is actually a very important manifestation of market confidence.

The reporter noticed that in the announcement of the three airlines, the main reason for the purchase of the aircraft was mentioned, that is, the aircraft transaction complied with the company's "14th Five -Year Plan" and market demand. The company needs to plan the fleet capacity in advance And reserves, optimize fleet structure and long -term capacity supplement. According to Air China, the introduction of the new aircraft will be concentrated after 2024, and the transaction will increase the company's capacity by about 10.4 %. China China China Eastern Airlines said that after the introduction of the aircraft, it will be mainly put into the domestic trunk network market for encrypted high -yield routes and developing potential markets. Southern Airlines said that the purchase of 96 A320NEO series aircraft will increase its capacity by about 13.0 %.

Is it necessary to order so many new planes now?

The consumption potential and confidence of the market have been increasing. However, at present, China's civil aviation industry has not fully returned to the level before the epidemic. The level of seat capacity provided by the industry as a whole is still much higher than the current market demand. So is it necessary to order so many new planes now? In this regard, experts said that the new and old models can be more metabolized to promote the industry. In the future, the aviation market is huge. Domestic needs to continuously increase new capacity and maintain the youth of airline fleets.

Experts said that the impact of the epidemic has slowed down in the past two years. Taking Air China China as an example, as of the end of 2021, the fleet size was 746, an increase of 52 nets from the end of 2019. The average annual introduction speed is between 1 % and 3 %, which is very different from the speed of 6 % to 8 % before.

綦 Qi Qi, an expert on the high -quality development research center of China Civil Aviation and Associate Professor of Guangzhou Civil Aviation Vocational and Technical College: The first is to replace the old model, which is an iteration. Because many of our domestic models are relatively old. In the field of aviation, the economy of new planes will be much better than old models in terms of fuel, which has also prompted airlines to accelerate iterative old models.

In addition, with the recovery of the market and business development, the domestic aviation market also needs to continue to increase new capacity.

Ji Qi, an expert on the high -quality development research center of China Civil Aviation and Associate Professor of Guangzhou Civil Aviation Vocational and Technical College: We are a big country, but from the perspective of such indicators such as per capita, it is actually far lower than many international countries. The potential of market demand is huge. Once this potential is released, it will require a lot of capacity to meet passengers' longing for a better life.

The more favorable purchase price becomes one of the reasons for "ordering"

The transaction amount of the large orders of the passenger plane this time was nearly 250 billion yuan. However, the three major airlines said that the actual transactions will give a large discount, and the actual price of the purchase of the aircraft will be lower than the above basic price. Therefore, experts also speculate that the more favorable purchase price, airlines have more bargaining power to buy new aircraft on this node. This is also one of the main factors for the three major airlines to buy new aircraft.

China Southern said in the announcement that it is currently a favorable window period for aircraft introduction negotiations. The company's use of current opportunities is conducive to better purchase conditions. This aircraft transaction also helps enhance the company's market competition. China Eastern also stated that the introduction of aircraft has not yet fully recovered, and the introduction of aircraft is conducive to better business conditions. The company has obtained better conditions than the past in terms of aircraft prices and other business terms.

Where does the money buying the plane come from? Will the scale of liabilities increase?

To buy aircraft, for airlines, it is a major capital expenditure, which will increase the scale of airline liabilities. At present, it is affected by factors such as the continuous and repeated epidemic and high international crude oil prices. The three major airlines have further frustrated in the first quarter of 2022, with a total loss of more than 20 billion yuan. In this case, where does the money buying the plane come from? Will cash flow affected? Will the airline liabilities be further increased? Experts said that as high -value products, aircraft are not spot transactions. At the same time, the manufacturing cycle is relatively long, so generally signing orders will be 3-5 years in advance. The 292 aircraft ordered this time will also be introduced in batch and batches. Taking Air China China as an example, public information shows that the purchased aircraft is planned to be delivered in batches from 2023 to 2027; Shenzhen Airlines purchased by Shenzhen Airlines is planned to be delivered in batches from 2024 to 2026.

In the announcement, the three major airlines said that the money for buying a plane does not need to pay at one time. Because it is divided into annual, the aircraft is also delivered in batches every year, so according to the convention, partial payment is also paid in installments, and then the balance is paid on the date of delivery of each aircraft. In the announcement, all three airlines stated that they will provide funds for this purchase of aircraft through business operations, commercial bank loans or other financing methods. The transaction amount adopts installment payment method, which is expected to have a significant impact on the company's cash flow status and business operations.

綦 Qi Qi, an expert on the high -quality development research center of China Civil Aviation and Associate Professor of Guangzhou Civil Aviation Vocational and Technical College: From the purchase of core assets such as aircraft, it is actually a good benefit for optimizing the overall capital structure of airlines. International large aircraft procurement and transactions generally use US dollar pricing methods, and new aircraft are high -quality assets.

What kind of signal is released? The domestic aviation industry actively integrates into the world

As a supplier, Airbus confirmed the order message on the official website as soon as possible. Xiele, Chief Business Officer of Airbus and International Business, said: "We praise the excellent work made by the entire Airbus Chinese team and our customer team. They have long -term and extensive discussions during the difficult new crown epidemic. As of May this year, the number of active aircraft aircraft operated in Mainland China exceeded 2070.

Experts said that the purchase of Airbus aircraft in the three major airlines in my country is also released a positive signal, which once again confirms that the Airbus and the Chinese aviation industry in -depth cooperation model is highly recognized. In addition, Airbus has three production lines in Tianjin, which also reflects the good integrated development of aircraft manufacturers and the domestic aviation industry.

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