China Eastern Airlines intends to buy 40 Airbus A320 aircraft under an agreement signed between France and China and is in talks for a similar number of Boeing 737s to expand its domestic and regional routes, its senior executive said.

But Chairman Li Fenghua, in Hong Kong to lobby investors to back a US$920 million deal to sell a 24 percent stake to Singapore Airlines and Temasek Holdings, said the firm had no plans to buy Airbus's A380 superjumbo.

Li said many Chinese airlines were flying with empty seats on long-haul routes. China Eastern's overseas routes are loss-making.

"Chinese airlines' international routes have seen operating losses using their current planes. If we buy A380s, losses will deepen," Li told Reuters in an interview.

China Eastern, which is expected to return to the black this year, has applied to Beijing to buy 40 single-aisle A320 planes under a framework deal for an order of 160 Airbus passenger jets worth $16.7 billion signed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chinese President Hu Jintao in November.

"We have applied for 40 but it is still uncertain how many we will get eventually," Li said.

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