Airbus and the Chinese government have expanded their agreement to assemble the A320 airliner at its Tianjin final assembly line (FAL) with an extension of 10 years to the joint venture.
The agreement was signed in Paris by Airbus President and CEO Fabrice Brégier, and members of a Chinese delegation, and was witnessed by French President Francois Hollande and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“We are going to celebrate 30 years of successful cooperation with our Chinese partners next year and I am proud that today we are strengthening the foundation for extending our successful cooperation into the future,” said Fabrice Bregier, Airbus President and CEO. “Our partnership with China, the mutual benefits we’ve explored, have been instrumental in furthering our global strategy, and we are honoured to have China as an essential pillar in our global setup. We are looking forward to providing top performing aircraft from our Chinese assembly lines for many years to come.”
Airbus says the new agreement will see Airbus strengthen its cooperation with the Chinese aviation industry including promoting Tianjin as an Asian Centre for Airbus and upgrading industrial cooperation. The Phase II agreement will cover the period from 2016 to 2025 and will see deliveries of Chinese assembled A320s expanded to the whole Asian region, and will include final assembly of the A320neo Family from 2017 onwards. To this end, the capabilities of the Tianjin FAL will be extended.
As part of the agreement signing, China announced it will buy 70 Airbus airliners including 43 A320 Family and 27 A330s.
