The north China city of Tianjin had been identified by Airbus, the
European aircraft manufacturer, as the location of their only
overseas assembly plant and the first aircraft is planned for
completion towards the end of 2008, the Xinhua-run China
Securities Journal reported Wednesday.
Tianjin triumphed over three other Chinese cities -- Shanghai,
Xi'an and Zhuhai -- in a six-month competitive bidding process for
the Airbus A320 plant, said the newspaper and identified their
source as an unnamed project insider.
The source said the assembly plant, with an investment of seven
billion euros, was expected to start production this year and
complete its first aircraft at the end of 2008.
The insider explained that China's National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC) were talking with Airbus on the company's
future strategy in China.
Last week Airbus said an announcement would be made "in about 10
days" on which of the cities was to become home to the new assembly
plant for the medium-range A320.
Three months ago the company announced it would build a plant in
China, its first outside Europe, to assemble the first single-aisle
commercial airliners to be completely produced in China.
Airbus has two assembly lines in Europe: one in Toulouse in
France and the other in Hamburg in Germany.
Airbus started its selection process for a Chinese site with
four candidate cities -- Shanghai, Tianjin, Xi'an and Zhuhai --
last December.
The insider said Tianjin had many advantages in location and
transport facilities which were convenient for moving components
around and purchasing manufacturing materials.
Tianjin is already home to 39 aviation companies and boasts more
than 2,000 skilled engineers and technicians. Its annual aviation
production is worth more than 2.5 billion yuan (more than US$300
million)
A neighbor of the capital, Beijing, the city was identified by
the central government as a key national civil aviation base in
2004, the newspaper said.
Industry observers said the Airbus decision to locate in China
was an important step for them in expanding their share of the
global market.
As China itself emerges as the world's largest aircraft market
the two leading aircraft manufacturers, Airbus and Boeing, are
going head to head to secure a share.??
Airbus statistics show the total number of passenger aircraft in
service on the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao exceeds 340
with significant potential for them to make inroads into a huge
market for their aircraft. They've forecast that China will buy
nearly 600 airliners in the next five years to keep pace with
rising demand.
In the next 20 years the number of Airbus aircraft in China is
expected to reach 1,600. This figure includes 200 A380s which are
the world's largest passenger aircraft.
Analysts say the new plant would probably service the
Asia-Pacific market in the main with China itself being of
particular interest.??
The company is working with Chinese manufacturers on component
production. Airbus plan to increase their annual expenditure in the
Chinese market to US$60 million by 2007 and up to US$120 million by
2010.
(Xinhua News Agency June 1, 2006)