(Reuters)The head of European planemaker Airbus was locked in talks late on Wednesday to sell aircraft to China in time for a signing ceremony coinciding with a visit to Beijing by French President Jacques Chirac, officials said.

Airbus President and Chief Executive Louis Gallois skipped a briefing session between Chirac and French business executives, attended by reporters, at which the French leader agreed to back various other business initiatives in talks with the Chinese.

"It's going on now. It's a live subject," French Transport Minister Dominique Perben told Reuters.

China, which often times big-ticket purchases to coincide with official diplomatic visits, ordered 150 single-aisle Airbus aircraft worth $10 billion in December 2005 when Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visited Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France.

The order, the biggest for Airbus, was balanced with a similar order from rival Boeing which so far dominates Chinese aviation with around two thirds of the current fleet.

Airbus, however, hopes to steal a march on Boeing by finalising plans to build an assembly plant for the A320-family of single-aisle 100- to 185-seat jets in Tianjin, eastern China.

Progress on new aircraft sales hinged on last-minute talks over the details of the Tianjin project, said a French official, who also played down reports that Airbus could sell 70 more aircraft to China as premature.

"The two issues are linked," the official said.

Airbus negotiators travelled to China facing turmoil at home over plans to cut 30 percent of structural costs, which could mean factory closures in Europe.

The cuts are needed as Airbus struggles to recover from a two-year delay to its A380 superjumbo which cost the planemaker 6 billion euros ($7.6 billion) in future cashflow.

China has ordered five of the mammoth double-decker planes but is unlikely to receive them in time for the 2008 Olympics.

Perben said Airbus's restructuring plans would not involve the loss of any production-related jobs in Europe and that the new plant in China was needed to meet growth in overall production.