UPDATE 2-Marsans unveils $7.5 bln Airbus order, with A380s

(Rewrites throughout, adds value of deal, details of planes)

By Ben Harding

MADRID, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Spain's Marsans travel group unveiled a massive $7.5 billion deal for 61 new Airbus planes on Thursday, four of them the aircraft maker's A380 'superjumbo'.

The news comes just days before Airbus, a unit of EADS (EAD.PA), delivers the first A380 to Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) following two years of delay in its development. The deal also comes hot on the heels of British Airways' decision to buy 12 A380s rather than Boeing's (BA.N) long-haul alternatives.

Marsans, which owns Air Comet and Aerolineas Argentinas, is only the second new European customer for the world's biggest passenger plane since 2001, and is the first from Spain. The four aircraft, which can carry up to 853 passengers, will be split equally between Air Comet and Aerolineas Argentinas.

Privately owned Marsans said the deal is worth $7.5 billion at list prices, making it one of the biggest in Spanish aviation history, though discounts are common in the industry.

Marsans is controlled by Spanish businessmen Gerardo Diaz Ferran and Gonzalo Pascual, who quit his post as chairman of SAS-owned Spanair a week ago to launch a takeover bid for the airline -- Spain's second-biggest carrier.

Thursday's order includes 10 of Airbus's new A350 XWBs, as well as 42 aircraft from the A320 family and five A330s, which added to 12 A330s bought in December take the total order to 73.

Aerolineas Argentinas spokesman Jorge Molina said the south American airline could receive 40 of the planes in the coming years.

He said it would start operating the superjumbo by the beginning of 2011, probably on the Buenos Aires-Madrid route.

"In 50 years Aerolineas Argentinas has never had such a strong investment as these 40 planes," said Molina.

The airline was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2001 when Marsans bought the Argentine flag carrier from Iberia, but the devaluation of the peso in 2002 and a strong increase in tourism to the country have aided the airline's recovery.

Toulouse-headquartered Airbus had received 330 orders this year to end-September, compared to 320 in the first nine months of 2006.