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Airbus in China

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Aircraft operations and a final assembly line

Airbus’ A320 Final Assembly Line in Tianjin, China was the first facility of its kind outside of Europe
Airbus’ A320 Final Assembly Line in Tianjin, China was the first facility of its kind outside of Europe

China is poised to become one of the world’s largest aviation markets, and it already is a major geographical region for Airbus – with more than 800 aircraft in service with Chinese airlines as of June 2012.  The country also is home to a growing number of Airbus manufacturing and support operations – including its first assembly line outside of Europe. 

The A320 final assembly line in Tianjin began operations during September 2008 as a joint venture between Airbus and a Chinese consortium of Tianjin Free Trade Zone (TJFTZ) and China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC).

This facility’s first completed jetliner made its maiden flight in May 2009, and was delivered the following month to Dragon Aviation Leasing for operation by Chengu-based carrier Sichuan Airlines – marking the first customer handover of an Airbus jetliner produced outside of Europe. 

The 100th A320 Family jetliner assembled at Airbus’ Tianjin facility was completed during August 2012, with this step accompanied by a framework agreement under which Airbus, TJFTZ and AVIC will continue their final assembly cooperation beyond the original business plan – which was due to expire in 2016.  Tianjin’s milestone 100th Chinese-built Airbus jetliner was delivered from the facility in September 2012 to Air China, with this A320 planned for use on domestic routes linking Shanghai to other cities in the country.

Airbus China and other subsidiaries

Airbus expanded into China in 1990 with the creation of Airbus China in Beijing, which employs more than 270 people – the majority of whom are Chinese nationals – and operates a string of local customer support offices to provide ready assistance to airlines.

The nearby Airbus customer support centre stocks some 25,000 spare parts for dispatch to airlines in the Asia-Pacific region and was the first Chinese organisation to earn EN9100 approval. Additionally, more than 20 European and American vendors supporting Airbus customers operate from the centre, which also has a dedicated avionics repair workshop.

Airbus signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Tianjin Free Trade Zone in October 2009 to establish a logistics centre, optimising the supply chain management for all of Airbus’ industrial cooperation projects in China.

Training, engineering and manufacturing centres

The first A320 full-flight simulator upgradable to support A320neo (new engine option) flight training is operational at the Hua Ou Aviation Training Centre in Beijing

Airbus’ Beijing training centre was set up jointly with the China Aviation Supplies Import & Export Corporation in 1998, and is the most modern such facility in the country – containing two full simulators: one for the A320 Family and one for the A330/A340 Family. The centre has trained thousands of maintenance engineers, cabin crew and pilots, many of whom come from outside China. 

The Airbus (Beijing) Engineering Centre (ABEC) first opened in July 2005 and is a joint venture between Airbus and China's two largest aviation companies – China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVICI) and China Aviation Industry Corporation II (AVICII). ABEC's engineers work on specific design packages for new programmes, including the design and development of the new-generation A350 XWB. 

Airbus and its Chinese partners inaugurated the Harbin Hafei Airbus Composite Manufacturing Centre in February 2011 – an eco-efficient joint venture located in Harbin, China that will produce composite parts for the A350 XWB jetliner. This 33,000-square foot facility features highly advanced equipment and technology – including automated-tape-laying, autoclave, automated trimming, and non-destructive test equipment. 

Supporting operators…and sustaining the industry

Airbus China Limited and its subsidiaries – comprised of the Hua-Ou Aviation Training Centre, Hua-Ou Aviation Support Centre and Airbus (Beijing) Engineering Centre – have been awarded International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 14001 certification status for the manufacturer’s environmental management systems. This certification highlights achievements in monitoring and minimising the environmental effect of their operations. 

With China’s aviation market continuing to grow – and the need to make air transport a more sustainable industry – Airbus has partnered with China’s Tsinghua University to complete a sustainability analysis examining potential alternative biofuel sources, and then develop a plan for escalating production of bio jet fuel in the country. This partnership is part of Airbus’ mission to establish “value chains” which link fuel source growers, biofuel manufacturers and airlines on every continent in order to increase production.

Strong ties to Chinese manufacturers

Airbus not only values its relationship with airlines in China, it also appreciates the enormous potential offered by Chinese industry. Currently, over half the Airbus fleet in service worldwide has parts produced by Chinese companies with whom Airbus already enjoys strong relations.

The industrial ties in China include: the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, which supplies the A320’s rear passenger door and parts of its nose section; the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, producing and assembling the A320’s emergency exit doors, and manufacturing fixed leading edges, wing interspar ribs, cargo doors and skin plates.

In addition, the Xi’an Aircraft Company manufactures electronic bay doors for the A320 and A330/A340 Families, as well as the fixed trailing edges on wings for the A320 Family and the brake blades and medium air ducts for the A330/A340 Family; the Hong Yuan Aviation Forging & Casting (HYFC) supplies titanium forged parts used in mounting powerplants on wings; and the Guizhou Aviation Industrial Group produces maintenance jigs and tools for Airbus raft. 

A strategy of partnerships

Airbus also seeks to form new industrial partnerships whenever possible. For example, the A318 is the first new Airbus aircraft developed with support from a Chinese engineering team. 

Also, the specially-commissioned roll-on, roll-off ship that transports A380 components within the Airbus production network was built at the country’s Jinling shipyard.

In addition, Airbus has several major technology transfer programmes underway in China, including one that will enable the complete wing of the A320 Family to be manufactured in China. The success of such projects means that as Airbus increases production, it can continue to expand in the region.

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