Airbus won a Chinese order for 150 A320 aircraft and agreed to set up a plant in China in one of 13 deals signed during a visit by French President Jacques Chirac to Beijing, AFP reported. The deal, which could be worth up to US$10 billion, was accompanied by an option for China to buy 20 of Airbus' new wide-body A350 planes. The Airbus A320 assembly plant, to be located in the north Chinese port city of Tianjin, will complete its first aircraft in 2009 and will subsequently manufacture four a month, the aircraft maker said. "It's clear that building the planes in China will give the Chinese an incentive to buy more of our aircraft," Louis Gallois, the chief executive of the European aerospace giant, told reporters. Airbus will hold a 51% stake in the Tianjin facility, sources close to the negotiations told AFP. The deal follows China's order last year of another 150 Airbus planes, also with a list price of nearly US$10 billion, signed when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited France.
Categories