PARIS/MANILA, June 28 (Reuters) - Airbus is

closing in on a preliminary deal with Philippine budget airline

Cebu Air for dozens of narrow-body jets to be announced

in the coming days, three people familiar with the matter said

on Friday.

Cebu Air, which operates as Cebu Pacific, and Airbus both

declined to comment on any commercial discussions.

The airline has been looking to order 100-150 narrow-body

jets from Boeing ( BA ) or Airbus worth up to $12

billion at list prices, in what was seen as potentially the

Philippines' largest jet purchase.

Two of the people said the deal involved 70 jets, including

a number of A321neo models.

Cebu Pacific has said it aims to more than double its fleet

by 2035 to take advantage of a long-term travel boom across

Southeast Asia following the COVID-19 pandemic.

It operates a fleet of 64 Airbus and 14 ATR aircraft, which

will increase to 92 by end-2024.

Bloomberg news reported earlier this month that Cebu was set

to favour Airbus for up to 150 airplanes.