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.