Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Airbus SAS, the world’s biggest commercial-aircraft maker, is still in talks with Syria, which may buy as many as 50 planes to modernize the fleet of its state-run carrier, Syrian Arab Airlines.

“We are discussing it with them, the negotiations are ongoing,” Habib Fekih, Airbus’s president for the Middle East, said in a telephone interview today. “We are waiting for some elements.”

Syria’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Abdallah Dardari, said in an August 2008 interview with Bloomberg that the airline was considering the purchase. The airline would buy single-aisle Airbus A320s as well as twin- aisle A330, A340 and A350 models. It had planned to lease four planes and then take delivery of the first 14 Airbus airliners from 2010 to 2018 and a further 36 by 2028, Dardari said.

The carrier, known as Syrian Air, was set up in 1946. Its fleet includes A320s and single-aisle Boeing 727s, according to its Web site.

A320-series planes, which offer 107 to 185 seats, are priced at $56 million apiece to $86 million. The four-engine, 380-seat A340 costs $239 million, while the planned A350, similar in size to the A330 with 250 to 350 seats, will cost as much as $259 million. Catalog prices don’t include discounts that Toulouse, France-based Airbus offers for larger orders.

U.S. Sanctions

The U.S. imposed economic sanctions on Syria in May 2004, including a ban on trade transactions with the Commercial Bank of Syria, the country’s largest bank, as then-President George W. Bush’s administration accused the government of aiding militants in Iraq and destabilizing Lebanon. The sanctions, preventing Boeing from taking part in recent bidding, have scuttled previous efforts to overhaul Syrian Air’s fleet.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flies to France today to discuss ties between the two countries and regional issues with his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported.

Part of Syrian Air’s multibillion-dollar restructuring may include preparing it for an initial public offering on the Syrian Stock Exchange, Dardari said last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Massoud A. Derhally in Beirut, Lebanon at mderhally@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 12, 2009 09:48 EST