Air China inked a deal with Airbus for buying 24 Airbus A320 planes, Shanghai Securities News said on Friday.

Under the 1.744-billion-U.S. dollar deal signed between the two sides on Thursday, the China national carrier will pay Airbus cash in installment.

The planes are expected to be delivered to China between 2007 and 2010.

Air China said the joining of the Airbus A320 airplanes will help upgrade its carrying capacity and cement Beijing's position as a communication hub. It will launch more domestic routes from Beijing, it said.

The report said the deal is part of the nearly 10 billion U.S. dollars agreement signed by China Aviation Supplies Corp and Airbus last December.

The corp has ordered 150 Airbus A320 planes, which will be distributed to Air China, China Eastern Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Shenzhen and Hainan Airlines

The shares of Hong Kong-listed Air China closed at 2.925 Hong Kong dollars on Thursday, up 2.632 percent.

Source: Xinhua