Airbus announced it has signed a contract to sell 160 commercial passenger planes to China in a $14.8 billion deal.

Officials from Airbus, which is based in Toulouse, France, made the announcement today as they traveled with French president Nicolas Sarkozy on his first state visit to China. The order includes 110 A320 jets, which hold about 150 passengers, and 50 A330 jets, which are slightly larger.

China is expected to purchase approximately $289 billion worth of aircraft over the next two decades. The deal announced today is the third big China contract for Airbus, while rival Boeing has won only one. The news comes just days after Airbus officials sounded alarm bells over the rising euro. Last week, Airbus chief executive Tom Enders warned that the declining value of the dollar relative to the euro was "life-threatening" to the company.

Louis Gallois, chief executive of Airbus parent EADS, told a German newspaper today that Airbus must save an additional $2.2 billion in order to compensate for currency losses.  


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