Airbus and a group of Chinese industrial partners today signed a contract to establish a joint-venture manufacturing center in Harbin, China, to build composite material parts and components for the Airbus A350XWB and A320 family.
The partnership involves Chinese partners 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).
Laurence Barron, president of Airbus China, and Pang Jian, chairman of HAIG and HAI, signed the contract in Madrid, Spain, in the presence of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Spanish Prime Minister JosĂ© Luis RodrĂguez Zapatero.
Under the terms of the agreement, HAIG will hold a 50-percent stake, Airbus China will hold 20 percent, while HAI, AVICHINA and HELI will each hold a 10-percent share. The risk-sharing partners expect the start manufacturing operations in September and have the new plant ready for production activities by the end of 2010.
Plans call for the center to produce major components for the A350XWB, in keeping with Airbus’s target of manufacturing 5 percent of the airframe in China.
The center marks the latest effort by Airbus to forge a long-term strategic partnership with China. Under current plans, the European consortium places the total value of industrial cooperation between Airbus and the Chinese aviation industry at near $200 million dollars per year in 2010 and $450 million per year in 2015.
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