Following a meeting
between President Hu Jintao and visiting French President Jacques
Chirac, China and France on Thursday signed a joint statement and
14 cooperation agreements, including a Chinese order of 150 Airbus
A320 aircraft and 20 Airbus A350 planes.
It represents the
largest deal in the history of the Chinese aviation industry. Hu
and Chirac attended the signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the
People in downtown Beijing.
"We are very pleased
to see the healthy and fast growth of China's aviation industry. We
are willing to provide more advanced Airbus planes for Chinese
airlines," said Airbus President and CEO Louis
Gallois.
Li Hai, general
manager of the China Aviation Supplies Import and Export Group
Corp, acclaimed the deal as "a new milestone in the history of
bilateral cooperation."
The two sides also
agreed to establish an Airbus A320 assembly line in the port city
of Tianjin, which still needs the approval of the Chinese
government and the Board of Directors of the European Aeronautic
Defense and Space Co.
The assembly line
will go into operation in early 2009 and will manufacture four
Airbus A320s a month from 2011.
Gallois said that
the joint venture will be a long-term strategic cooperation and
will benefit both parties.
He said Airbus will
work with China to ensure that the Airbus A320 planes produced in
Tianjin will be up to the same standard as those manufactured in
other places. "We are looking forward to the operation of the first
A320 plane produced in China," he noted.
Since the first
Airbus A310-200 plane entered the Chinese market in 1985, the
number of Airbus planes operating on the Chinese mainland rose from
less than 30 in 1995 to more than 300 by the end of September this
year, according to official data.
Currently, more than
2,800 Airbus A320 planes are operating in more than 180 airlines
around the world. There are orders around the globe for 4,400
A320s.
(Xinhua News Agency
October 26, 2006)
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