aircraft, including more widebody airliners and freighters, regional jets and replacements for about 100 narrowbody planes, its chief executive said yesterday.

The requirement, whose value might exceed $7 billion, seems slanted more towards the products of Europe's Airbus Industrie than those of US rival Boeing Co.

Chief executive Robert Milton said consolidation of Air Canada and its recent acquisition, Canadian Airlines Corp, would require replacements for the two airlines' fleets of about 100 old Boeing 737-200s, Douglas DC-9-30s, Fokker F28s and British Aerospace 146-200s.

"We will look to replace all of those types with one that will provide greater commonality,'' Milton told reporters in London where he was attending a conference.

No single aircraft model comes in all the same sizes as those types, although the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families come close.

Airbus appears best placed for the order because Air Canada and Canadian Airlines already operate more than 80 aircraft from the Airbus A320 family. A hundred A320-family planes would cost about $5 billion, based on catalogue prices.

Air Canada -- which flies daily into Bermuda -- may not need replacements for all the aircraft Milton earmarked, however. Almost a third belong to Canadian Regional, a Canadian Airlines unit that may not become part of the Air Canada group.

Air Canada has been among the first to order Airbus's new A340-500 model and its more capacious relative, the A340-600, with a deal for two and three planes, respectively.

The A340-500, to join Air Canada's fleet in 2002, offers far greater range than any aircraft in service. Milton saw opportunities for such far-flung services as Vancouver to Sydney, Singapore and Delhi, and Toronto to Johannesburg.

Air Canada, would continue to operate the A330 alongside the 767-300, which is only a little smaller, but was looking at disposing of its 767-200s for conversion into freighters.