TIANJIN -
Construction of an assembly line for European
aircraft maker Airbus's A320 planes began on
Tuesday in northern China's port city of Tianjin
with a ceremony to mark the occasion.
The
assembly plant is a joint venture between Airbus
and Tianjin Zhongtian Aviation Industry Investment
Co, a Chinese alliance of China Aviation Industry
Corp I, China Aviation Industry Corp II and
Tianjin Bonded Zone Investment Co. Airbus will
hold a majority 51% stake in the Tianjin facility,
with the rest held by Tianjin Zhongtian Aviation
Industry Investment Co.
But despite the
celebrations, the joint-venture contract has not yet
been
finalized. "The joint-venture contract has not yet
been signed," said Gu Wei, an Airbus China public
relations representative. He declined to say what
was holding up the signatures.
The
joint-venture contract has so far been through 17
rounds of business talks and was expected to be
signed in May, according to earlier reports
quoting Zhang Jinwei, deputy director of the
Tianjin Bonded Zone Administration.
Total
investment in the project is estimated at 8
billion to 10 billion yuan (US$1.04 billion to
$1.3 billion).
The plant in the Tianjin
Binhai New Area (BNA), the first for Airbus
outside Europe, is expected to start operating in
August 2008 and have an annual capacity of 44
aircraft by 2011, sources with the project said.
The project includes assembly workshops,
power stations, hangars and outdoor facilities.
The main body of the assembly workshop will be
completed at the end of this year.
Fabrice
Bregier, chief operating officer of Airbus, said
at the ceremony that the A320 planes to be
assembled and delivered in China will be the same
as those made in Europe. Bregier said he hopes the
assembly plant will be completed as early as
possible.
Experts say the cooperation
project is a win-win deal, giving Airbus the
opportunity to tap into the vast Chinese aviation
market and China the chance to accumulate
experience in making big jets.
The planes
assembled in Tianjin will be mainly delivered to
Chinese airline companies.
Airbus will
deliver an average of 80-90 A320 planes each year
from 2009 based on current orders, Bregier said.
In 2005, Airbus delivered 56 new planes to
China. The number rose to 76 last year.
"China has become one of the most
important aviation markets in the world," said
Laurence Barron, president of Airbus China Co Ltd.
The Tianjin assembly line has set a target
of producing four planes a month in 2011 and will
decide at that point whether to raise its output
or not depending on Chinese market conditions,
said Barron.
Airbus estimates that China
will need more than 3,000 passenger or cargo
planes from 2006 through 2025.
China's
National Development and Reform Commission
approved the Tianjin Airbus plant last June.
Airbus began selling planes in China in
1985. Mainland China now has more than 300 Airbus
planes.
China's 11th five-year development
plan includes a project for large-aircraft
manufacturing, which is seen as integral to the
country's long- and mid-term development plan for
science and technology.
The Tianjin
assembly plant plans to recruit about 500 workers,
90% of whom will be Chinese, said Barron. The
plant has already recruited 150 Chinese workers,
who will be trained for six months in China before
being sent to Airbus assembly lines in Germany and
France for further training, he said.
Eleven aircraft companies have elected to
settle in the BNA Airport Logistics Processing
Area, where the Airbus assembly line is located,
said Zhang Jinwei, vice director of the Tianjin
Bonded Zone Administration. More than 30
aviation-industry programs are still under
negotiation, 10 of which will provide services for
the assembly line, Zhang said.
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