During Premier Wen Jiabao’s "trip of confidence" to Europe, Airbus and Xi’an Aircraft Industry Company (XAC) signed a cooperation agreement in London to have the A320 family of commercial jet wings "fully completed and tested" in China, state media reported. Wing equipping and testing will be performed at a new facility to be built in Tianjin close to the A320 FALC factory currently operated by XAC. Wing box structures assembled by XAC are currently completed at Airbus’ Broughton site before being transported to China for final assembly. Operations on the new project are expected to begin at the end of 2009, and the first delivery of a complete set of wings is expected in the first quarter of 2010. Brian Fleet, senior vice president of Airbus, said that building the new facility close to the FALC factory will save transportation costs, reduce risk, and ensure quicker customer response.
Categories