Inks $100 Million Deal To Make Parts For A380

Perhaps taking a cue from Boeing, which last week signed a deal with two Chinese manufacturers to build parts for several aircraft -- including the 7E7 Dreamliner, Airbus now says it's inked a $100 million deal with a Chinese firm to build parts for the behemoth A380.

"This has been the first time for Airbus to involve China in producing A380 components," said an announcement on Airbus's website.

The agreement was signed in a ceremony attended by Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan and French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin (below, right).

"CASGC has enjoyed a very good cooperative relationship with Airbus for many years. With joint efforts, we hope that Airbus could provide more modern and economic aviation products to Chinese airlines, while CASGC could offer high quality and value-added services to Chinese airlines," CASGC President Li Hai said.

"We are delighted that China is giving us a new vote of confidence to our products," said Airbus President and CEO Noel Forgeard.

"This agreement marks a new milestone in the long standing cooperation of our two sides," he said.

Airbus says the A330s will give airlines the full benefit of Airbus’ unique operational commonality, which will enable airlines to operate the A330s and A340s using the same pool of pilots, cabin crews and maintenance engineers.

This, says Airbus, gives airlines more crew and fleet planning flexibility and will result in significant cost savings in training, combined with unmatched passenger comfort.

FMI: www.airbus.com