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BIZCHINA / Center
Wing delivery to Airbus marks milestone
By Ding Qingfen (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-25 09:00
Airbus China President Laurence Barron (left) and Airbus Senior
Vice-President Brian Fleet sign on a Airbus model in Xi'an yesterday to
mark the historic moment of the delivery of the first A319 wing box made
in China. [newsphoto]?
Xi'an Aircraft Company (XAC), a subsidiary of China Aviation Industry
Corporation I (AVIC I), yesterday made its first delivery of an Airbus
A319 wing box - making the country Airbus' only wing box manufacturer
outside Europe.
The wing box, or the main body of the wing and among the toughest
structural parts of an aircraft, is valued $1.75 million per set. It will
be dispatched to the Airbus assembly plant in Broughton in the UK.
"Airbus has ordered 250 sets of wing boxes from our company. We expect to
make two sets this year. Production will pick up to four sets per month
by the end of 2009, and then to six sets per month in 2010," Tang Jun,
vice-president of XAC, told China Daily.
Airbus plans to increase its subcontract volume in China from the current
$60 million to $120 million by 2010, about 50 percent of which will be
contributed by the overall wing program, according to company sources.
Yesterday's delivery signals important progress in China's aircraft
manufacturing industry, Tang said. The A319 wing box is the largest and
most complicated Airbus aircraft component a Chinese aviation
manufacturer has ever made.
The wing box is the third phase of the long-term technological
partnership between Airbus and China's aviation industry, which started
eight years ago. The first two phases covered technology transfer of wing
leading edge track ribs, and wing leading edge and trailing edge packages.
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The delivery "reaffirms Airbus' commitment to a meaningful partnership
with China," said Laurence Barron, Airbus China president.
According to Tang, XAC and Airbus are in talks on more wing-related
technology transfer.
China expects to obtain the rest of the wing-related contracts from
Airbus by 2009, said Yang Chunsheng, a senior executive with China
National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation.
If that comes true, he said, "Xi'an will be able to directly provide
Airbus wings to the future A320 assembly line in Tianjin."
Airbus and Chinese partners officially signed an agreement last month to
open the assembly line there to produce the European aircraft
manufacturer's A320 jets.
The plant is expected to deliver its first aircraft in early 2009, Airbus
said.
The assembly line will be able to produce four A320s a month by 2011 and
a total of about 300 A320 planes by 2016, the company said.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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