Airbus - Made in China.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 @ 12:08 PM
The Chinese-made A320 aircraft successfully completed a four-hour test flight earlier this year and was officially delivered at a ceremony on Tuesday delivered to Sichuan Airlines, a regional carrier based in southwestern China. "We will build a strong future with the China aviation industry and for the China aviation industry," Airbus CEO Thomas Enders said. "(Airbus) will be working increasingly with our partners in China, setting new standards."
The Tianjin plant, which opened in September 2008, is modelled after a state-of-the-art Airbus factory in Hamburg and is a joint venture between Airbus and a Chinese aviation consortium and cost some 10 billion yuan ($1.47 billion).
China has been an Airbus customer since 1985. Since then, Chinese orders have exceeded 700 aircraft and will be supplemented by a further 10 models, scheduled to leave the Tianjin plant by the end of the year. Come 2011, the factory is expected to be turning out 4 aircraft per month.
The Chinese aircraft market is the second largest in the world and already accounts for 15 percent of the European manufacturer's total sales. Chinese carriers are expected to purchase as many as 3,400 new aircraft in the coming two decades, and Airbus hopes to cash in on this by capturing half the Chinese market by 2012.