SHANGHAI, July 10 (AP) -- China Southern Airlines Co. said it has agreed to buy 45 planes from Boeing Co. and Airbus to increase its carrying capacity.

The list price of the purchase of 25 B737-800 planes from Boeing and 20 A320 jets from Airbus is as much as US$3.7 billion (€2.7 billion), the airline said late Monday in a statement, although the actual price will be at a discount to that figure.

The Airbus jets will be delivered to Southern Airlines between March 2009 and August 2010, it said. The Boeing planes will be delivered to China Southern's 60-percent-owned Xiamen Airlines unit between July 2011 and November 2013.

China Southern said the purchase of the planes, along with 12 Boeing B737-800 and six Boeing B777F planes bought in the past year, will increase its operating capacity by 19.5 percent.

Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines is one of the country's three major airlines, along with Air China Ltd. and China Eastern Airlines Corp.