Airbus Expecting A Big, Fat Order From China By 2009

September 28, 2008 8:17 a.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN) - Airbus SAS said that it is expecting a larger order from China by the end of next year and that the European aircraft giant may purchase up to $1 billion of parts from that country by 2020.

The firm officially opened an assembly plant in China on Sunday, it is the company's first plant outside the European region, and Airbus will be able to assemble four A320s a month there by 2011.

The new assembly plant in eastern China's Tianjin city, located just one hour to the south-east of the capital Beijing, is considered a big step in the company's globalize production of aircrafts.

The company's chief executive officer Tom Enders said on Sunday that China's aviation market is likely to present a strong growth, which eventually may lead the company to receive a large order from the country.

The firm expects the most populous country in the world to place an order for 2,800 passenger and cargo planes in the next 20 years, worth $330 billion.

"With the final assembly line here in Tianjin, we deepen and expand our industrial relationship, which is a key pillar of the internationalization strategy of Airbus," Enders was quoted saying by state-run news agency Xinhua.

"It is an assembly line with the latest state-of-the-art technologies, as it has integrated technologies from both lines in France and Germany," he added.

The plant is a joint venture between Airbus and Tianjin Zhongtian Aviation Industry Investment Co. and was constructed within 15 months with an investment of up to 12 billion yuan (1.8 billion dollars).

The company is expected to deliver to China's Sichuan Airlines its first aircraft by mid-2009.

The world's largest aircraft maker currently holds 15 percent of Airbus sales in China's aviation market, which is considered to be the second largest in the world.