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Airbus will extend its cooperation with Chinese aircraft companies and gradually transfer its wing manufacturing and assembly base to China in seven to 10 years, a senior company official said.
The European aircraft manufacturer has already sub-contracted some aircraft components, including passenger doors, wing parts and maintenance tools, to four Chinese aircraft companies.
Trial installation of wing parts manufactured at the Shenyang Aircraft Co and Xi'an Aircraft Co was recently completed at an Airbus base in the United Kingdom. The parts, including leading edge slat track rib sub-assemblies, are used in the A320 Airbus jet.
It proved that China has the capacity to produce the most complicated structural components of advanced aircraft, Airbus China President Guy McLeod said on Tuesday in Beijing.
Based on the technical capabilities of Chinese aircraft manufacturers, Airbus plans to transfer the entire wing manufacturing and assembly base of A320 to China within a decade, he said, adding that negotiations are underway.
Airbus entered China in 1985, with 169 fleet now in service in the country, including 59 in Hong Kong and Macao. But Airbus also has a long-term development strategy in local manufacturing, McLeod said.
(China Daily June 27, 2002)
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