Airbus gears up for assembly of A320neo in Tianjin

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-04-05

Airbus president and CEO Fabrice Bregier answers questions at a press
 conference introducing the Airbus A330-300 in Beijing, Sept. 25, 2013.
(File photo/Xinhua)

The year 2016 will mark the opening of a new chapter for the Tianjin plant of France-based aircraft manufacturer Airbus, which will begin gearing up for assembly of the A320neo, the company's new model set to make its maiden flight later this year.

The Tianjin plant has been assembling A320 aircraft since it became Airbus's third assembly line in 2008 after plants in Toulouse — where the company is headquartered — and Hamburg. Airbus has a 51% stake in the Tianjin plant, formally called Airbus (Tianjin) Final Assembly Co, while the remainder is held by the Tianjin Free Trade Zone and the Aviation Industry Corporation of China.

Workers at the plant assemble planes from parts shipped from Europe and are responsible for the interior and painting. Each plane is tested before being delivered to customers, mostly in China. Airbus (Tianjin) has provided more than 160 A320s to Chinese airlines — about 16% of the passenger aircraft in service in the country.

The assembly line is up to the same standards as the Airbus plants in Europe, Airbus (Tianjin) vice general manager Zheng Qi assured Shanghai's China Business News.

The plant's original contract with Airbus was set to expire in 2016, but China's president, Xi Jinping, took the initiative during his visit to France last month to sign an extension that will see cooperation continue in a second phase through 2025.

"The second phase of cooperation will see a one-step increase in assembly and production capacity of A320neo aircraft. We will work to advise parts suppliers to set up shop in Tianjin to build the area surrounding our assembly line into an Airbus logistics center for Asia," said Airbus (Tianjin) CEO Chen Juming.

The plant was established with an initial investment of 4 billion yuan (US$645 million), but Chen said the upgrade to equipment and facilities to prepare for assembling A320neo models from 2017 will cost extra on top of that.

China Business News meanwhile has reported that Airbus is looking into the possibility of assembling wide-body aircraft in China. If the European manufacturer does in fact build a wide-body plane finishing and delivery center nearby, Tianjin could become only the third city in the world offering delivery of both narrow-body and wide-body airplanes.

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