PARIS - AIRBUS said on Monday it had signed a draft deal with China's ICBC bank under which the bank could provide 3.0 billion dollars (S$4.38 billion) to finance the acquisition of Airbus aircraft by Chinese carriers.

'Airbus today signed a draft agreement with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China ... covering cooperation in financing and leasing aircraft,' the European aircraft manufacturer said in a statement.

It said ICBC subsidiary ICBC Leasing could provide financing covering up to 70 A320 aircraft produced in China over the next five years, a commitment that would be worth 3.0 billion dollars.

On Tuesday, Airbus is scheduled to deliver the first A320 assembled at its factory in China.

The plane, made at a plant in northern Tianjin, the only Airbus factory outside Europe, will be delivered to Dragon Aviation Leasing and will be flown by Sichuan Airlines, a regional Chinese air carrier.

Ten middle-distance A319/320 aircraft will be delivered by the end of the year, before the factory starts to churn out up to four planes a month before the end of 2011.

The Tianjin plant, modelled on Airbus' factory in Hamburg, Germany, has an investment of nearly 10 billion yuan (S$2.14 billion) and went into operation in September in the presence of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

The joint venture factory, about 120 kilometres southeast of Beijing, is 51 per cent owned by Airbus, subsidiary of the European group EADS, and 49 per cent by a Chinese aviation consortium. -- AFP