BEIJING - The north
China city of Tianjin is to be the site
of European aircraft manufacturer Airbus's first
overseas assembly plant, the Xinhua-run China
Securities Journal reported May 31. Tianjin beat
three other Chinese cities, Shanghai, Xi'an and
Zhuhai, in a six-month competition for the Airbus
A320 assembly plant, said the newspaper, citing an
unnamed project insider.
The source said
the plant, with a total investment of seven
billion euros (US$8.9 billion), was expected to
start production this year and complete its first
aircraft at the end of 2008. The insider said
China's National Development
and Reform Commission (NDRC) was talking with
Airbus on the company's future strategy in China.
Last week, Airbus said an announcement could
be made "in about 10 days" on which Chinese city
would be the assembly plant to build the
medium-range A320. Three months ago, the firm
announced that it would build a plant in China,
its first assembly line outside Europe, to
assemble the first single-aisle commercial
airliners to be entirely produced in China.
Airbus has two assembly lines in Europe:
one in Toulouse in France, the other in Hamburg in
Germany. Airbus started its selection for a
Chinese plant site last December, with Shanghai,
Tianjin, Xi'an and Zhuhai as candidate cities.
The insider said Tianjin had comprehensive
advantages with respect to location and transport,
which were convenient for exporting components and
purchasing manufacturing materials. Tianjin is
home to 39 aviation companies, with more than
2,000 skilled engineers and technicians. Its
annual aviation production reached more 2.5
billion yuan ($311.7 million).
Neighboring
the capital, Beijing, Tianjin has been
planned by the central government as a key
national civil aviation base since 2004, the
newspaper said.
Industry observers said
Airbus's decision to set up an plant in China was
an important step in expanding its global market.
With China emerging as the world's largest
aircraft market, the two leading aircraft-makers,
Airbus and Boeing, are competing vigorously for
market share.
Airbus statistics show the
total number of passenger aircraft in service on
the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau has exceeded 340,
making it the largest market for Airbus. Airbus
forecasts that China will buy nearly 600 aircraft
in the next five years to meet rising demand.
In the next two decades, the number of
Airbus aircraft in China is expected to reach
1,600, including 200 A380s, the world's largest
passenger aircraft. Analysts said the new plant in
China would mainly service the Asia-Pacific
market, especially China.
The company is
working with Chinese manufacturers on building
components. Airbus plans to increase its annual
expenditure in the Chinese market to $60 million
by 2007, and then to $120 million by 2010.
