Airbus bullish on demand for widebody planes

Air China and Sichuan Airlines will be the first batch of mainland customers to take delivery this year of the A350 - a new widebody aircraft produced by Airbus Group SE, and the European group said it is bullish about the country's demand for widebody aircraft, fueled by fast-growing long-haul international routes.

Air China ordered 10 A350-900 jets, and Sichuan Airlines will get four A350 aircraft. Airbus said orders from the Asia-Pacific region account for nearly one-third of its total orders.

Last year, Airbus delivered 153 new aircraft to Chinese operators, accounting for 22 percent of its global deliveries of 688 commercial jets. The company has been delivering more than 100 jets to the China market every year for seven consecutive years, it said.