JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #116 - October 2017 - 20

BUSlNESS strategy
more than 320 A320 family
aircraft so far.

The joint venture Harbin Composite Manufacturing Centre was established
on 30 January 2009

to Airbus in charge of the
A350's horizontal tail plane.
The manufacturing centre will
become the sole supplier of
A350 XWB elevators to ANN
and will be responsible for both
manufacturing and assembling
the complete set of elevators,
mostly made of composites.
The facilities producing parts
for the A350 XWB were inaugurated on 28 February 2011.
Rudders manufactured at the
centre are to be delivered to an
Airbus site in Stade, Germany,
where they will be fixed to an
A320 vertical stabilizer, and
then delivered to the A320 final
assembly lines internationally.
Extension of the A320
family final assembly line
in Tianjin
Located in Tianjin, the
Airbus A320 Family Final
Assembly Line Asia (FALA)
is the third single-aisle aircraft
final assembly line location of
Airbus worldwide, following
Toulouse and Hamburg. It is
also the company's first final
assembly line outside Europe.
The FALA is a joint venture
between Airbus (51%) and a
Chinese consortium (49%)
comprising the Tianjin Airport

20

Economic Area Zone & Tianjin
Port Free Trade Administrative
Committee and China Aviation
Industry Corporation (AVIC).
The FALA site extends over
a total area of 590,000 m2,
with dedicated hangars, office
buildings and related facilities.
The Airbus (Tianjin) Delivery
Centre (ATDC), a 100%
subsidiary of Airbus, is also
located within the FALA site.
The FALA in Tianjin is based
on the latest state-of-the-art
Airbus single-aisle final assembly line in Hamburg, Germany.
The aircraft are assembled and
delivered in China to the same
standards as those assembled
and delivered in Europe. The
FALA assembles the A319
and A320 models of the A320
family.
In April 2016, Airbus and its
Chinese partners extended
the successful joint venture to
assemble A320 family aircraft in
China for an additional 10 years
and renamed the site as Airbus
A320 Family Final Assembly
Line Asia (FALA). The "phase
II" covers the period from 2016
to 2025, expanding deliveries
to the whole Asian region and
including the final assembly of
the A320neo family from 2017
onwards. The FALA delivered

jec composites magazine / N°116 October 2017

"A model of high-tech
and win-win partnership
between China and
Europe"
On 1 June 2017, Airbus and
China signed a memorandum
of understanding (MoU) on
aviation and aerospace, further
enhancing their spirit of cooperation. The MoU was signed
in Berlin by Fabrice Brégier,
Airbus COO and President
of Commercial Aircraft, and
He Lifeng, Chairman of the
National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC)
of China.
The MoU strengthens and
deepens a mutually beneficial
collaboration between Airbus
and the Chinese aviation
industry in various fields. Based
on an already established solid
foundation, Airbus and China
will support the development
of engineering skills and technology innovation in China and
also promote the integration of
Chinese suppliers into Airbus'
global supply chain.
"The success of the industrial
cooperation between Airbus and
China makes it a model of hightech and win-win partnership
between China and Europe", said
Fabrice Brégier, Airbus COO and
President of Commercial Aircraft.
"Together with our Chinese partners, we are confident in meeting
the new challenges and opportunities and look forward to an even
deeper and broader partnership."
Opening of the Airbus A330
Completion and Delivery
Centre (C&DC) in Tianjin
Airbus has taken additional
steps in the expansion of its
global footprint through its
strategic partnership with China with the start of construction
of the Airbus A330 Completion

and Delivery Centre (C&DC)
in Tianjin, China. The C&DC
will be co-located at the same
site as the Airbus Tianjin
A320 Family Final Assembly
Line and the Airbus Tianjin
Delivery Centre. The C&DC
ground-breaking
ceremony
took place on 2  March, 2016.
The A330 C&DC Tianjin will
cover aircraft completion activities including cabin installation,
aircraft painting and flight testing, as well as aircraft delivery
and customer flight acceptance.
Under the project, the A330
aircraft to be completed at the
A330 C&DC Tianjin will be
assembled in Toulouse and
painted and have their cabin
fitting in Tianjin - the (C&DC)
will deliver its first aircraft in
September 2017.
"A competitive product
portfolio"
On 5 July 2017, China Aviation
Supplies Holding Company
(CAS) signed a general terms
agreement (GTA) with Airbus
for the purchase of a total of
140 aircraft. The agreement
comprises of 100 A320 aircraft
and 40 A350 XWB aircraft,
reflecting the strong demand
of Chinese airlines in all market
segments including domestic,
low-cost, regional and international long haul.
The GTA was signed in Berlin
by Tom Enders, Airbus CEO,
and Sun Bo, Executive Vice
President of CAS, in the presence of visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and German
Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"This is a great endorsement
for our leading products in both
the single-aisle and wide-body
segments", said Tom Enders.
"China is today one of the world's
most important markets for
aviation, and we are honoured
to support the development and
rapid growth of the country's
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #116 - October 2017
