Airbus’ China A330 Widebody Completion & Delivery Centre construction starts

Airbus has taken additional steps in the expansion of its global footprint and its strategic partnership with China as construction gets underway for the Airbus A330 Completion and Delivery Centre (C&DC) in Tianjin, China. The A330 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. In summer 2014, Airbus, Tianjin Free Trade Zone (TJFTZ) and Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) signed a framework agreement on setting up an A330 C&DC in Tianjin. The A330 C&DC Tianjin will cover the aircraft completion activities including cabin installation, aircraft painting and flight test, as well as aircraft delivery and customer flight acceptance. The A330 Family aircraft to be completed at the A330 C&DC Tianjin will be assembled in Toulouse while painting and cabin fitting will be performed in Tianjin. This latest development of Airbus’ cooperation in China perfectly supports the forecast for passenger air traffic in China which is set to grow well above the world average of 4.6%. The average annual growth for the domestic air traffic market in China will be at 6.9% and that for the international market is forecast to be at 6.8%. The key underlying factors for the forecast are as follows: China’s long term economic outlook remains positive, Chinese middle class continues to increase and Chinese outbound tourism is expanding.