French Transport Minister Gilles de Robien on Thursday hailed the Chinese Southern airline's order for five A380 super jumbos as not only an economic success but also a political one.

"Beyond an economic success, I think particularly that it is a political success," De Robien told the Senate.

"We are working for the rapprochement of a great country, a great people and of Europe and France," he added.

He also said that the deal would be the fruit of French President Jacques Chirac's visit to China in October, when he promoted the new plane and spoke of France's high technology accomplishments.

According to China Southern executive Yang Defeng quoted by the China Daily on Wednesday, the signing ceremony was to take place at the French Transport Ministry in Paris on Friday.

The newspaper gave a catalogue price of between US$263-286 million per plane, the deal would be worth up to US$1.4 billion and the planes are expected to be delivered "for several years".

A380, the world's largest commercial airliner, is a new product of the European consortium Airbus. The double-deck aircraft, unveiled on Jan. 18 in Toulouse, south France, can carry some 550 people and is scheduled to go into service next year.

Chinese Southern is one of the top three major Chinese airlines with Air China and China Eastern.

China is estimated to become the world's second-largest commercial aviation market after the United States in 20 years with 2,800 planes.

To get there, its airlines will require nearly 2,300 new planes by 2023 and will spend some US$183 billion to quadruple their fleets, according to Airbus's American rival Boeing.

(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2005)