GECAS, the leasing subsidiary of US group General Electric, has signed a contract with Airbus Industrie for 45 aircraft, with options for another 45, the European aircraft consortium said yesterday.

The order is worth about $2.4 billion (£1.5 billion), based on estimates using the Airbus price list. However, aircraft sales are rarely concluded at the catalogue price and industry sources said the price for an order of that size would be around $2 billion.

GECAS has five firm orders and five options for the A340-300 four engined long haul aircraft and 40 orders and 40 options for single aisle aircraft, the A319, A320 and A321.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal suggested the contract would be worth around $1.8 billion.

GECAS's chairman, Mr Jim Johnson, said he expected a long collaboration between GECAS and Airbus over the coming years.