BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese order for 184 Airbus A320 aircraft that French President Emmanuel Macron said would be finalised soon are new purchases that have not yet been publicly announced, a French presidency official said on Wednesday.

“These are orders that had never been announced and which were not part of the Merkel package,” the official said, adding the planes would be delivered in 2019 and 2020.

Macron earlier on Wednesday disclosed the orders and said there were “ambitions” to sell A350 and A380 planes to China “in the weeks or months to come”.