Chinese carriers have placed an order with Airbus for aircraft, and the company will build a second Chinese FAL.
Airbus got an order for airplanes from China’s airlines and announced the building of a new Final Assembly Line (FAL) there.
The declaration was made while Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission (EC), and French President Emmanuel Macron were visiting China.
Several agreements, including one for an aircraft order and another for the establishment of a FAL in Tianjin, China, were signed on April 6, 2023, in Beijing by a European Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and a local company as part of an expansion of their cooperation on Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF).
In accordance with the new contract, the manufacturer will expand its capabilities at the FAL in Tianjin, where it has had an assembly line for the A320 family of aircraft since 2008. In order to significantly increase its capacity for local production, the Tianjin FAL delivered the first aircraft in 2009 and the first A321neo on March 24, 2023.
The Tianjin Free Trade Zone Investment Company and the Aviation Industry Corporation of China inked the agreement to extend the Tianjin FAL with Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus. “The arrangement will assist Airbus’ overall rate objective of 75 aircraft per month across its global production network in 2026,” the OEM stated. According to the company, both French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping were present for the signing.
The second line at the Tianjin FAL “creates more flexibility in a sensitive ecosystem and fulfills the needs of the market, to obtain a global A320 Family production rate of 75 in 2026,” an Airbus spokesman stated in a statement to AeroTime.
The new FAL will be in service by the end of 2025, they noted.
confirmed Airbus sales to Chinese airlines
Also, a General Terms Agreement (GTA) was signed by Airbus and the China Aviation Supplies Holding Corporation (CAS) for 160 aircraft, including 150 A320 and 10 A350-900s. The manufacturer’s press statement states that “The GTA comprises past announcements.”
A spokesperson for Airbus told AeroTime that “The GTA is the Chinese Government authorization for the supply of these aircraft.”
As their third deal, the OEM and China National Aviation Fuel Group (CNAF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The deal aims to “intensify Chinese-European cooperation on the manufacturing, competitive application, and establishment of common standards for Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF),” according to Airbus.
“In September 2022, an agreement was made between Airbus and CNAF to support SAF’s commercial and delivery flights in China. The two partners had facilitated 17 delivery flights and a first commercial flight by the end of March “The OEM went on.
