Airbus and China Aviation Industry Corporation II (AVIC II) have agreed to set up a joint-venture manufacturing centre in north-east China to produce composite parts for the A350 XWB.
A heads of agreement was signed on 26 November during an official visit to China by French president Nicolas Sarkozy. This is related to Airbus's commitment to provide China with a 5% manufacturing role in its new widebody aircraft.
Also signed during the state visit was a general terms agreement covering China's planned purchase of 110 Airbus A320s and 40 A330s, in addition to a firm contract with China Southern Airlines for 10 A330-200s.
Under the agreement, a joint venture manufacturing centre will be established in the north-eastern Chinese city of Harbin between Airbus and AVIC II subsidiary Hafei Aviation Industry that will produce "composite material parts and components" for the A350.
"The manufacturing centre is expected to be established in the first quarter of 2009," says Airbus. "The production scale of the manufacturing centre shall correspond to the work packages for the A350 XWB allocated to the manufacturing centre and may be enlarged based on the future business plan."
Airbus has for some time been pledging to give China a manufacturing role on the A350 and has now signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) "to formalise the commitment of allocating 5% of the A350 XWB airframe to the Chinese aviation industry".
The airframer says: "Airbus confirms its intent to manufacture 5% of the airframe of the A350 XWB aircraft in China. Airbus will actively involve Chinese enterprises in the A350 XWB project to develop the current co-operation and prepare for further possible co-operation for future programmes," it says.
Airbus has been progressively giving China's state-run manufacturers more work on its aircraft programmes, in part in the hope that this will lead to more sales of its aircraft. Just over a year ago it signed a letter of intent with China for the sale of 20 A350s to the country, but a firm order has yet to be placed.
Agreement was also reached last year on the establishment of a final assembly line for A320-family narrowbodies in Tianjin, near the Chinese capital Beijing, and Airbus says this project "is proceeding well on schedule".
Six Chinese manufacturers are now involved in making parts for Airbus, such as wing components, emergency exit doors and maintenance tools.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
