UPDATE 1-AIRSHOW-Hong Kong Airlines to buy 51 Airbus planes
(Adds executive's comments, details)
LE BOURGET, France/HONG KONG, June 21 (Reuters) - Hong Kong Airlines, sister company of China's fourth-largest carrier, plans to buy 51 jets from European planemaker Airbus (EAD.PA) worth $5.6 billion at listed prices, accelerating an expansion aimed at a booming Asian aviation arena.
Hong Kong Airlines -- in which global financier George Soros owns an indirect stake -- signed a memorandum of understanding to buy 30 A320-family narrowbody planes, 20 A330 widebody aircraft and a corporate jet, Airbus told reporters at the Paris air show on Thursday.
The new aircraft will help position Hong Kong Airlines among the leading carriers in the Asia Pacific, Chairman Ren Wei Dong said in a statement.
Ren told reporters that his six-year-old carrier -- formerly called CR Airways -- will fund the acquisition through "many channels".
Hong Kong Airlines is 45 percent held by Hainan provincial government-controlled Grand China Airlines, which is seeking an initial public offering in Hong Kong this year to raise about US$2 billion, local media reported.
Soros owns more than 10 percent of Grand China Air.
"We're preparing for a listing," a Grand China company official told Reuters on Thursday without elaborating.
Hong Kong Airlines, an affiliate of Hainan Airlines (900945.SS) (600221.SS), the country's fourth-largest carrier, has already taken delivery of six Boeing Co. (BA.N) jets.
It will choose engines for the Airbus aircraft at a later date, Airbus added.
Airbus said it did not rule out the possibility that some of the purchased planes might be delivered from its assembly line in China, which will start production from 2009 with the first A320 due for delivery in 2010.
Grand China Airlines is the holding firm of four domestic carriers -- Hainan Airlines, Shanxi Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines and cargo carrier Hong Kong Express.
The government of the Chinese province of Hainan owns 48 percent of Hainan Air. (Additional reporting by Carolyn Qu and Joseph Chaney in Hong Kong)
