Air Astana orders Airbus and Boeing

PARIS, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan airline Air Astana said on Thursday it had decided to buy 6 single-aisle A320 aircraft from Airbus (EAD.PA) and 3 wide-body Boeing (BA.N) 787-8 in deals worth a combined $850 million at list prices.

The airline, which is 51-percent owned by the Kazakh government and 49-percent by Britain's BAE Systems (BAES.L), said in a statement it had also taken out options for another three of each model.

A spokeswoman for European planemaker Airbus confirmed that Air Astana had signed a memorandum of understanding for the Airbus jets. It was not immediately clear whether the Boeing deal was a similar, provisional, contract or a firm order.

Air Astana began flight operations in May 2002.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by David Cowell)