Low-cost carrier AirAsia will be the first airline to sport fuel-saving sharklet wing tips on an A320 plane from December, aircraft maker Airbus said at the Berlin air show on Tuesday.

The bent-back wing tips offer fuel savings of about 4 percent. Airbus completed the first new-build A320 equipped with sharklets in Toulouse in April and previously said it expected the first member of the family to enter service from the fourth quarter of 2012.

AirAsia is Asia's largest budget carrier and last year placed a record-breaking US$18 billion order for 200 of Airbus' fuel-saving A320neo jets.

The airline is close to a further deal to buy up to 100 A320 jets, although an order may not be ready to be announced in Berlin, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters last week.