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Airbus woos China with aviation development cooperation deal
June 9th 2017
Airbus and China have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on enhanced cooperation in aviation and aerospace development. Read More » The MoU was signed in Berlin by Fabrice Brégier, Airbus COO and President of Commercial Aircraft, and He Lifeng, Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China.
More specifically, Airbus and the NDRC agreed to further support the development of engineering skills and technology innovation in China. More significantly, Airbus also agreed to promote the integration of more Chinese suppliers into its global supply chain.
“The success of the industrial cooperation between Airbus and China makes itself a model of high-tech and win-win partnership between China and Europe”, said Fabrice Brégier, Airbus COO and President of Commercial Aircraft. “Together with our Chinese partners, we are confident in meeting the new challenges and opportunities and look forward to an even deeper and broader partnership.”
Airbus must surely be hoping more orders for China’s state-controlled airlines will come its way following the enhanced cooperation agreement. On the single aisle front, Airbus and Boeing are pretty much at par in China; on the widebody front Boeing still leads the race, particularly when considering mainland A350 versus B787 orders.
Nevertheless, in terms of supply chain, Airbus indisputably dominates the China race. It opened an A320 final assembly line in Tianjin in 2009 and will start delivering A330 widebodies from its A330 completion and delivery centre in Tianjin in September.
Rival Boeing broke ground on its first China plant earlier this year – a B737 completion and delivery centre in Zhoushan, an island just off the coast of Zhejiang, near Shanghai and Ningbo. Boeing hopes to start delivering B737s from Zhoushan in 2018.
