Air China, the country's leading carrier, said late Friday that one of its subsidiary airlines would pay $814 million to buy 10 Airbus 320-series passenger planes.

In a statement filed to the HK stock exchange, the Beijing-based carrier said its subsidiary, Shenzhen Airlines based in the South China's booming city Shenzhen, and Air China's import agent AIE entered into agreement with Airbus to purchase 10 320-series planes.

Airbus has granted to Shenzhen Airlines significant price concessions. These will take the form of credit memoranda which may be used by Shenzhen Airlines towards the final price payment of those planes or may be used for the purpose of purchasing goods and services from Airbus, said