Airbus delivered 125 aircraft to China in 2012

BEIJING - European aircraft manufacturer Airbus delivered 125 new aircraft to Chinese operators in 2012, accounting for over 20 percent of its global deliveries during the period, according to figures from Airbus China.

Last year's deliveries included 106 A320 Family aircraft, 17 A330s and two A380s, the company said.

This brought the number of in-service Airbus aircraft on the Chinese mainland to 876 as of the end of last year.

China's demand for passenger jets has seen steady growth in recent years, and the country has risen to become the world's second largest civil aviation market, after the United States.

A recent report released by Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China forecast that China will order 4,960 aircraft worth more than $563 billion from 2012 to 2031.

The COMAC expects global air passenger turnover to grow at an annual rate of 4.9 percent in the next two decades, and that of China will expand by 7.2 percent annually.

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