Airbus today signed a ground-breaking $17.4 billion (£8.6 billion) deal to sell 160 commercial jets to China just days after warning the weak dollar is threatening the embattled European plane maker's survival.

Airbus’ biggest-ever contract with China will see it supply 110, A320 jets and 50 of the slightly larger A330 planes. Ten of the A330’s will go to China Southern Airlines, the nation’s largest carrier.

Last week, Airbus chief executive, Tom Enders, told staff: "The dollar's rapid decline is life-threatening for Airbus," adding: "The dollar exchange rate has gone beyond the pain barrier."

Mr Enders said the group's European production plants were facing major cost cuts to cope with the impact of the currency. EADS, Airbus' parent company, recently reported a third-quarter loss and said that Airbus needed to find an extra €1 billion euros in cost-savings.

Today's deal came as Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, began the second day of his first state visit to China.

Separately to Airbus, Areva, the French nuclear giant, signed a contract to build two third-generation nuclear reactors for China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC) in southern China worth $12 billlion.

Mr Sarkozy said: "The total amount of these contracts has never been matched before.”

The Airbus deal is likely to mean the plane maker overtakes Boeing, its fierce US rival, in total orders for commercial aircraft this year.

Boeing said last week that it had received 1,047 commercial airplanes orders so far this year. Airbus had logged 1,021 orders as at the end of October.

China’s domestic air traffic is expected to double in the next five years and aviation authorities believe three of their airlines will be among the world’s top 10 in terms of passenger traffic and revenue by 2020.

Airbus moved to strengthen its ties with China earlier this year by building an assembly plant in Tianjin city, 110 kilometres easty of Beijing. The plant is Airbus’ first outside of Europe.

The company has struggled against the weak dollar, high euro and huge delays for its flagship A380 Superjumbo programme. The delays have wiped billions of euros off profits at EADS.

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