Air China (CA, Beijing Capital) along with its unit, Shenzhen Airlines (ZH, Shenzhen), is to acquire one hundred Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) aircraft, to "mainly consist of A320 narrow-bodies" in a deal that could be worth over USD9billion at list prices. The Airbus deal comes on the back of a move by the Chinese carrier in March to acquire two B747-8s, one B777-300(ER), 20 Next-Generation B737-800s and eight B777-Fs from Boeing (BOE, Washington National) worth USD4.83 billion. The acquisition is part of the airline's plan to expand capacity and improve efficiency which will also result in the retirement of its four A340-300s.