The aircraft leasing firm AWAS announced on Wednesday it reached an agreement to buy 75 Airbus A320 aircraft and could also close another deal for 25 additional planes in a deal worth $6.9 billion at current list prices.

"This deal further diversifies our fleet and allows AWAS to meet current and future demand from our customers for highly fuel efficient and environmentally friendly aircraft," AWAS CEO Franklin Pray said in a statement released today.

This is the first order for Airbus this year and might send the messaged that the demand for new planes may not decrease as rapidly in 2008 as some observers had predicted.

Both Boeing and Airbus expect demand to drop in 2008 to about 1,000 orders each. Over the past year, Boeing said it booked 1,413 net orders, a figure that tops the record of 1,055 jets established by Airbus in 2005.

Deutsche Bank analysts made some forecasts that confirm the fears of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers. According to the analysts, the global air traffic growth may start to slow in 2008, a year many say will represent a turning point for sentiment for commercial aerospace.

Shares in Airbus parent EADS were trading 0.21 percent lower at 19.32 euros by 0837 GMT in Paris.

AWAS, the aircraft leasing firm owned by European private equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners, became one of the world’s largest aircraft leasing companies last year after acquiring Pegasus Aviation Finance.

AWAS also said in December it had ordered from Boeing 31 single-aisle 737 planes worth about $2.3 billion at list prices. The 737 is Airbus's A320 main competitor.

The company has doubled its size in 2007 and the latest deal comes to confirm AWAS’ “prime position in the industry", according to the firm’s chief executive, Franklin Pray.