Mar 19, 2014

China is in talks to buy at least 150 Airbus passenger jets potentially worth $20 billion when Xi Jinping pays his first visit to Europe as president at the end of this month, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. In a broad-ranging deal that could help reset trade relations between China and Europe after a bumpy year, China is expected to buy more A330 passenger jets as talks advance to open Airbus’s second major factory in the country. Text and archived photos of Airbus by Reuters.

: An Airbus A400M military aircraft participates in a flying display during the 50th Paris Air Show at the Le Bourget airport on June 23, 2013. (REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol)

: An Airbus A-319 jet liner lands at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on March 28, 2012. (REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov)

: An Indonesia AirAsia Airbus A320-200 passenger prepares to land at Sukarno-Hatta airport in Tangerang on the outskirts of Jakarta on January 30, 2013. (REUTERS/Enny Nuraheni)

: An Airbus A380 takes part in a flying display during the 48th Paris Air Show at the Le Bourget airport near Paris on June 16, 2009. (REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol)

: A new Airbus A380 airliner for Lufthansa is ready to leave the paintshop hangar at the Airbus facility in Finkenwerder near Hamburg on February 5, 2010. (REUTERS/Christian Charisius)

: A passenger looks out of an Airbus A330-300 aircraft of Taiwan’s Eva Airlines, decorated with Hello Kitty motifs, in Taoyuan International Airport, northern Taiwan, on April 30, 2012. (REUTERS/Pichi Chuang)

: An Airbus A380 flies through clouds during a display flight at the Farnborough Airshow 2012 in southern England on July 9, 2012. (REUTERS/Luke MacGregor)

: An Airbus A-380 passenger plane flies on the second day of the Farnborough International Airshow in south England on July 15, 2008. (REUTERS/Toby Melville)

: A British Airways Airbus A380, the world’s largest jetliner, participates in a flying display during the 50th Paris Air Show at the Le Bourget airport on June 19, 2013. (REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol)

: An Emirates airlines Airbus A380 comes in for landing over the roof of the Beijing Capital International Airport’s train station on March 6, 2012. (REUTERS/David Gray)

: Staff use the stairs between the upper and lower decks of the British Airways Airbus A380 at Heathrow Airport in London on July 4, 2013. (REUTERS/Paul Hackett)

: A staff member stands in front of the new Airbus A320 family final assembly line at its assembly plant in Tianjin Municipality on September 28, 2008. (REUTERS/China Daily)

: Technicians work next to the damaged engine of a Qantas Airways A380 passenger plane flight QF32 after it was forced to make an emergency landing at Changi airport in Singapore on November 4, 2010. (REUTERS/Vivek Prakash)

: Damage on the left wing over the number two engine is seen from a window of the Qantas Airways A380 passenger plane flight QF32 on November 4, 2010. (REUTERS/Ulf M. Waschbusch)

: Qantas Airways 380 passenger plane flight QF32 is sprayed by rescue services after making an emergency landing at Changi airport in Singapore on November 4, 2010. (REUTERS/Vivek Prakash)

: A policeman walks next to an Airbus A380 passenger jet during the AVEX International Air Show at the Sharm El Sheikh airport on November 7, 2010. (REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic)

: The damaged number two engine of a Qantas Airbus A380 in Singapore is removed from the wing in this November 13, 2010 handout picture. (REUTERS/Australian Transport Safety Authority/Handout)

: An Airbus A380 is pictured on the production line at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse. (REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer)

: A Canadair CL-215 plane lands beside a prototype of an A400M Airbus military plane at Torrejon de Ardoz military base near Madrid on March 1, 2012. (REUTERS/Andrea Comas)

: Thai Airways Airbus A300 aircrafts are parked on the flooded tarmac at Don Muang airport in Bangkok on October 26, 2011. (REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad)

: The solar-powered HB-SIA prototype aircraft takes part in a flying display as the Airbus A380 is seen in the foreground during the 49th Paris Air Show at the Le Bourget airport on June 26, 2011. (REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)

: The damaged right-hand wing-tip of the Airbus A380, the world’s largest jetliner with a wingspan of almost 80 meters, is seen on the tarmac during the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget airport on June 20, 2011. (REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol)

: A worker stands next to a new A320 plane that is under construction at the Airbus factory located in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin on September 14, 2010. (REUTERS/David Gray)

: Visitors look at an Airbus A380 passenger plane of Emirates Airline at the ILA International Air Show in Schoenefeld outside Berlin on June 8, 2010. (REUTERS/Thomas Peter)

: The first Airbus A380 superjumbo delivered to Singapore Airlines descends to land at Singapore’s Changi Airport on October 17, 2007. (REUTERS/Tim Chong)

: The first A380 delivered to Singapore Airlines arrives at the Airbus Delivery Centre in Toulouse Blagnac, southern France on October 15, 2007. (REUTERS/Jean-Philippe Arles)

: An Air India Airbus A310 is seen after it made an emergency landing at the international airport in New Delhi on April 9, 2007. (REUTERS)

: An Airbus A380 aircraft, the world’s largest passenger plane, takes off from Los Angeles International Airport on its return flight back to France after making its first USA west coast touchdown. (REUTERS/Gene Blevins)

: The Airbus A380 taxis after landing at JFK International Airport in New York. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)

: The new Airbus A 380 super jumbo jet airplane stands at Frankfurt airport prior to its first passenger flight early morning on March 19, 2007. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach)

: Employees protest beside a model of an Airbus A318 at the Airbus facility in the northern German town of Nordenham. (REUTERS/Christian Charisius)