China Eastern orders 25 Airbus A330neo jets for long-haul expansion

China Eastern Airlines said Friday it will buy 25 Airbus A330neo widebody jets, valuing the deal at about $9.35 billion at catalogue prices and signaling a deeper push back into long-haul international growth. The aircraft were ordered in Shanghai and are scheduled to arrive in batches from 2029 through 2033.

The headline figure is not the cash price China Eastern is likely to pay. Airbus and airlines routinely negotiate sizeable discounts on large fleet deals, so the $9.35 billion figure gives a scale read, not a final bill. Even so, the order is one of the clearest signals yet that China Eastern is preparing for a stronger rebound in intercontinental demand and a heavier role for Shanghai Pudong Airport as a transfer hub.

China Eastern said the new A330neos will be used mainly on routes out of Shanghai Pudong, where it wants to expand long-haul destinations and increase flight frequencies. That plan fits with its latest operating data: in 2025, transit passengers via Shanghai rose 17.5% year on year, lifting the airline’s market share in the city to 43%. The carrier has also been widening its international footprint, adding 11 overseas routes in 2024 including Shanghai-Riyadh, Shanghai-Marseille and Shanghai-Kazan.

The airline’s 2024 annual report also said it developed seven international express routes, including Shanghai-Singapore and Shanghai-Bangkok, while increasing flights from Shanghai to Europe and Australia. The new widebody order, coming on top of a March agreement for 101 A320neo-family aircraft, shows China Eastern is not simply replacing older jets. It is building a broader fleet strategy around more capacity, more frequencies and a stronger Shanghai hub.

For Airbus, the deal is another win in the world’s second-largest aviation market and a reminder that the manufacturer still has a strong commercial edge in China’s rebound. Boeing remains Airbus’s chief rival for Chinese widebody and single-aisle business, but this latest order reinforces Airbus’s position as the preferred supplier for a carrier betting that international traffic will keep recovering over the next decade.

That long-term view matches Airbus’s own 2025 Global Market Forecast, which says global passenger traffic should grow 3.6% a year over the long run, supported by GDP growth, urbanization and a larger global middle class. Airbus has also projected Chinese passenger traffic growth of about 5% annually over the next two decades, and China Eastern’s latest order suggests Beijing’s major carriers are once again planning around that kind of expansion.