The China Eastern Airlines signed on Tuesday a contract with European aircraft giant Airbus on purchasing 30 Airbus A320 planes.

Under the deal, which is worth about 13.9 billion yuan (1.73 billion U.S. dollars), Airbus will deliver the planes to China Eastern Airline between May 2008 and November 2010, according to Tuesday's Shanghai Securities News.

The planes will be used to fly on domestic routes.

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

The corporation 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.

Source: Xinhua