Airbus has confirmed the orders with Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, and Shenzhen Airlines for a total of 292 A320 family aircraft — in what it said is a nod to the "positive recovery momentum" and prosperous outlook for the Chinese aviation market.

"These new orders demonstrate the strong confidence in Airbus from our customers. It is also a solid endorsement from our airline customers in China of the performance, quality, fuel efficiency, and sustainability of the world's leading family of single-aisle aircraft," said Christian Scherer, Airbus chief commercial officer and Head of International.

"We commend the excellent work by George Xu and the entire Airbus China team as well as our customers' teams for having brought to conclusion these long and extensive discussions that have taken place throughout the difficult COVID pandemic," Scherer added, noting that once the relevant criteria are met, these orders will enter the backlog.

Airbus noted that by the end of May 2022, the in-service Airbus fleet with Chinese operators totaled over 2,070 aircraft.

The A320neo Family incorporates new generation engines and sharklets, which together deliver at least 20% fuel and CO2 savings, as well as a 50% noise reduction.

At the end of May 2022, Airbus said the A320neo Family had totalled more than 8,000 orders from over 130 customers.

It added that since its entry into service six years ago, Airbus has delivered over 2,200 A320neo Family aircraft contributing to 15 million tons of CO2 saving.