Pieter C. 5 Report post Posted June 8, 2006 June 8, 2006 The Chinese government has given the formal go-ahead for an assembly plant for Airbus A320 narrow-body airliners to be built in the northern port city of Tianjin, the official Xinhua news agency said on Thursday. It gave no further details in the brief report, sourced to the Tianjin branch of the powerful planning department, the National Development and Reform Commission. French Transport Minister Dominique Perben said last month that he believed Beijing had agreed to the factory being located in Tianjin, which is about an hour's drive from the capital. Tianjin had been competing for the plant with Shanghai, Xian in the northwest and Zhuhai in the south. Airbus hopes a local plant will give it an edge over rival Boeing as they compete to meet a projected surge in Chinese demand for short-haul aircraft over the next 10 to 20 years. Airbus and French officials have said China is likely to take a 5 to 10 percent stake in a program to replace the A320. EADS co-Chief Executive Thomas Enders was quoted by Germany's Focus magazine in April as saying China could start building A320 family aircraft at the end of 2008 with the first deliveries as early as 2010. The plant would have the capacity to produce up to four planes a month. Assembly typically accounts for a small minority of aircraft production costs. Airbus first builds wings and much of its fuselages at separate sites, mostly in Germany, Britain and France, and then assembles them into the final aircraft at Toulouse and Hamburg. And all aircraft makers receive complete engines from engine companies, basically ready to bolt on. The A320 family comprises the A318, A319, A320 and A321, with seating from about 100 to 200. (Reuters) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tamizi Hj Tamby 1 Report post Posted June 9, 2006 I've read that news in a local daily.Looks like Airbus has launch it's manufactring plan at China..Boeing had to do something,or they will lose their asian customers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sandeep G 1 Report post Posted June 9, 2006 hmmm Airbus in China, Boeing in India??? The middle east and Indian markets are very large! Not to mention that India is as close to South East Asia as well! Perhaps boeing can look at building the 737NG in India.. who knows.. what makes logical sense? up to Boeing! The european and american workers unions won't be too happy with this though! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Adrian M 0 Report post Posted June 9, 2006 Wow if Boeing open a manufacturing plant at KUL or anywhere in Malaysia would be really awesome. Since we already have winglet installing plant at SZB it's good to have another plant here and give more jobs for the unemployeed all around Malaysia. Especially spotters and Aviation maniacs can shoot some up close and personal shots. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sandeep G 1 Report post Posted June 10, 2006 Wow if Boeing open a manufacturing plant at KUL or anywhere in Malaysia would be really awesome. Since we already have winglet installing plant at SZB it's good to have another plant here and give more jobs for the unemployeed all around Malaysia. Especially spotters and Aviation maniacs can shoot some up close and personal shots. Manufacturing expertise in Malaysia is still a little superior to India/China.. especially in terms of quality. However cost of manufacturing is also that much higher.. Would be nice to see if they can build such a facility here, but malaysia lacks the human resources in terms of Aeronautical engineers and what not.. India and China are churning them out, so labour market and cost efficiency is better in those countries But! I still dream of an established, home-grown world player in the MRO market to look after planes in the South East Asian (and Oceanic) region So maybe your dreams aren't too far off Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
