Harbin Facility Will Manufacture Composite Parts For A350 XWB, A320

European planemaker Airbus and a group of Chinese industrial partners signed a contract Monday to establish a Joint Venture Manufacturing Center in Harbin, China to manufacture composite material parts and components for the Airbus A350 XWB program and Airbus A320 Family aircraft.

The Chinese partners are Harbin Aircraft Industry Group Company Limited (HAIG), Hafei Aviation Industry Company Limited (HAI), Avichina Industry & Technology Company Limited (AVICHINA) and Harbin Development Zone Heli Infrastructure Development Company Limited (HELI).

The contract was signed by Laurence Barron, President of Airbus China, and Pang Jian, Chairman of the Board of Directors of HAIG and HAI in Madrid, Spain in the presence of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

The Harbin Hafei Airbus Composite Manufacturing Center Company Limited will be set up in 2009. HAIG will hold a 50 percent stake, Airbus China will hold 20 percent, while HAI, AVICHINA and HELI will each hold a ten percent stake. Manufacturing operations are expected to start in September 2009 and a new plant should be ready for operations by the end of 2010.

The Manufacturing Center will produce major components for the A350 XWB program, as part of Airbus' target of manufacturing five percent of the A350 XWB airframe in China. These components will be manufactured using the latest composite manufacturing technology based on Airbus standards and processes.

"The signing of the joint venture contract marks a historical breakthrough for the relationship between HAIG / HAI and Airbus," said Pang Jian. "HAIG / HAI and Airbus have become risk sharing partners. We will share the profits of the joint venture and will jointly meet the challenges caused by global economic slowdown. Today's signature is a joint response of the Chinese partners and Airbus to these challenges."

Industrial cooperation between Airbus and Chinese aviation industry dates back to 1985. Aerospatiale -- today Airbus France -- signed first product sub-contracting agreement in 1985 with Xi'an Aircraft Company on manufacturing and assembling access doors for Airbus A300/A310 wide-body aircraft.

In November 2007, Airbus signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China to formalise the commitment of allocating A350 XWB airframe workpackages to the Chinese aviation industry. On the same day, Airbus and the former AVIC II, parent company of Hafei, signed a "Heads of Agreement" for a joint venture manufacturing Center.

In September 2008, Airbus A320 Family Final Assembly Line in China (FALC), a joint venture between Airbus and a Chinese Consortium comprising Tianjin Free Trade Zone, former AVIC I and Hafei, was officially inaugurated by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Airbus President and CEO Tom Enders.

"This project demonstrates once again Airbus' long term commitment to the sustainable development of China's aviation industry," said Laurence Barron, President of Airbus China. "The joint venture is another step forward in our cooperation with Hafei, as Hafei was one of the founding members of our Airbus Engineering Center in Beijing. We are very confident in the prospects for our joint venture with our Chinese partners in Harbin," he added.

Airbus says it is committed to forging a long-term strategic partnership with China. The total value of industrial cooperation between Airbus and the Chinese aviation industry is expected to be near 200 million dollars per year in 2010 and 450 million dollars per year in 2015.

FMI: www.airbus.com