BEIJING: China Southern Airlines (CSA) announced on Wednesday it would buy 10 aircraft worth a total $2.27 billion from European aerospace giant Airbus, as a Chinese boom in air travel defies slowing economic growth. The carrier, one of China’s ‘big three’ with the largest fleet by size, will take delivery of the A330-300 planes between 2017 and 2019, it said in a statement to the Shanghai stock exchange. It was the firm’s second major purchase this month, following a $10 billion order for 110 planes from Boeing. China, world’s second largest economy, is Asia’s biggest aircraft buyer as a growing middle class takes to the skies in ever-increasing numbers.