Airbus and a group of Chinese industrial partners signed a contract to establish a Joint Venture Manufacturing Centre in Harbin, China to manufacture composite material parts and components for the Airbus A350 XWB programme and Airbus A320 Family aircraft.
The Chinese partners are 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).
The Harbin Hafei Airbus Composite Manufacturing Centre Company Limited (the Manufacturing Centre) will be set up in 2009. HAIG will hold a 50% stake, Airbus China will hold 20%, while HAI, AVICHINA and HELI will each hold a 10% stake. Manufacturing operations are expected to start in September 2009 and a new plant should be ready for operations by the end of 2010.
The Manufacturing Centre will produce major components for the A350 XWB programme, as part of Airbus’ target of manufacturing five per cent of the A350 XWB airframe in China. These components will be manufactured using the latest composite manufacturing technology based on Airbus standards and processes.
