Airbus has sealed another massive order as it aims to keep its place as the world's leading aviation firm in the coming year.

The £3 billion deal to deliver 60 A320 airliners to Virgin America also represented the company's 10,000th order since it was formed just over 40 years ago.

It comes less than a week after the company announced it had agreed the largest order in the history of the sector, worth a staggering £10 billion.

Yesterday's announcement came as it was revealed that Airbus has once again beaten its rival Boeing to be the biggest player in the market last year.

The announcement is also confirmation that the A320, which is partly made at the firm's Filton factory, is now the leading aircraft in the world.

Airbus employs 4,000 staff at its factory near Bristol and the wings, landing gear and fuel systems for the plane are designed at the plant.

The latest version of the plane, which is designed to be environmentally friendly and fuel efficient, is already proving popular with airlines.

Last week it was revealed in the Evening Post that Airbus had signed a deal with Indian budget airline Indigo for 180 A320s, worth a total of £10 billion. More than two-thirds of the order is made up of the latest version of the plane.

The firm, which has interests in France, Germany, Spain and the UK, celebrated its 40th anniversary last year by delivering a record 510 new planes, to Boeing's 462.

The record delivery figures gave Airbus a 52 per cent share of the world market, putting it ahead of its nearest rival, the American-owned Boeing. Over the same period the firm also announced orders for 574 planes, more than double the previous year's figure and 44 more than Boeing.

Tom Enders, the chief executive of the firm, was delighted with the figures.

He said: "2010 was all in all a rather good year for us.

"Performance was better than expected and with annual turnover volume for Airbus at around 30 billion euros it has been better than expected 12 months ago.

"The market rebound and improved programme performance has been particularly encouraging.

"However, with plenty of challenges, especially in our development programmes, we will have to work hard to further improve and also make 2011 another successful year."

Airbus sales chief John Leahy said he was confident about the future for the aviation industry after a couple of tough years.

He added: "These figures show the economy is improving.

"Aviation is growing again because of Asia, low-cost carriers and emerging markets."

Airbus added that it is planning to hire 3,000 more staff this year. Last year it took on 2,200 new workers, taking its total to 52,000.