Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise (SALE), owned by Bank of China Ltd, will buy 40 planes from Airbus SAS and Boeing Co, as it expands its fleet to meet demand from low-cost carriers and other airlines.

Asia's biggest plane lessor ordered 20 planes from the A320 family, Airbus said in a statement on January 8. The company also exercised options for 20 Boeing 737-800s, Boeing said in a separate release. The combined orders are worth as much as US$3 billion at list prices, according to Bloomberg News.

Singapore Aircraft is expanding its fleet as customers such as AirAsia Bhd, Southeast Asia's largest budget airline, start flying new routes. The Asia-Pacific region will need 7,900 planes over the next 20 years, 29 percent of the global demand for aircraft during the period, according to Boeing.

"The pie is definitely growing for the low-cost segment," said Peter Drolet, an analyst at UOB Kay Hian Pte in Hong Kong. "You've now got a very tight small aircraft segment with AirAsia and all the low-cost carriers that want to get their hands on single-aisle aircraft."

The orders are the first announced from Asia this year for both Airbus and Boeing. Last year, Boeing booked a total of 1,044 orders for commercial airplanes. Airbus had 635 orders at the end of November.

Singapore Aircraft plans to expand the number of planes it owns and manages to as many as 300.