Bombardier Inc said on Wednesday that an unnamed Chinese airline has tentatively agreed to buy six of its CRJ900 NextGen regional commercial aircraft.

The transaction, which is the first CRJ900 purchase in China, includes options on an additional five planes.

Based on today's list price, the six-plane contract would be worth US$264 million, Montreal-based Bombardier said in a statement.

The provisional CRJ order comes a month after Bombardier said it will cut production of its CRJ family of 60- to 99-seat jets from January as airlines delay new orders during uncertain economic times.

Bombardier, the world's third biggest civil aircraft maker, has earmarked China as a big and expanding market for its planes.

Earlier this year, Bombardier teamed up with Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC), that country's biggest planemaker, to jointly work on developing aircraft to take on industry giants Airbus and Boeing.

More than 80 Bombardier-produced aircraft, including from the CRJ- and Q-Series of commercial aircraft, as well as Learjet, Challenger and Global business jets are currently operating in China.