Aircraft

Airbus aims to spend $200 million next year on procuring aircraft parts from China and it is possible that China will have more than 5% of the work on the A350 programme.

Last year Airbus spent a little over $100 million buying aircraft parts from China and next year it is aiming for $200 million and in 2015 it will be close to $500 million, says Airbus China president Laurence Barron.

He says Airbus recently concluded deals with Chinese firms for the manufacture of rudders and maintenance doors for the A350 and at year-end it aims to sign a deal for China to make A350 elevators.

Airbus is also negotiating with Chengdu Aircraft to make spoilers for the A350, says Barron.

These contracts altogether account for 4% of work share on the A350 programme and the remaining 1% will come via sub-contracts from Airbus' other tier-one suppliers, he says.

Airbus has a long-standing commitment to give China a 5% share of the manufacturing work on the A350 programme.

Barron says if Airbus can negotiate a good price then China's share of work may exceed 5%.

Besides sourcing aircraft parts from China, Airbus is working to establish a logistics centre.

All Airbus shipments into China come via Tianjin but presently the company's shipments out of China are going though various ports.

Barron says the idea is to consolidate everything and have it go through one logistics centre to cut costs.

By year-end Airbus hopes to decide on a location for the logistics centre, he adds.