Airbus to Ramp Up Production in China
06 November 2019 - 10:15PM
Dow Jones News
By Ben Otto
Airbus SE and Beijing agreed to strengthen cooperation in
producing commercial jets, including by ramping up assembly of the
French company's planes in China, Airbus said Wednesday.
The plane maker said the two sides had signed a memorandum of
understanding about initiatives regarding single-aisle and
wide-body aircraft.
Airbus said its plant for the assembly of A320 jets in Tianjin
is on track to increase production capacity to six planes a month
by the end of the year, part of the company's goal to produce 63 of
the jets a month globally by 2021. Airbus has delivered 450 A320
jets to customers based in Asia from the Tianjin facility since
2008, it said.
The company also said it would add facilities to be able to
complete and deliver wide-body A350 jets in Tianjin in the second
half of 2020, with a first delivery slated for 2021.
The memorandum was signed by Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume
Faury and He Lifeng, chairman of China's National Development and
Reform Commission, in the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping
and French President Emmanuel Macron, Airbus said.
"We attach great importance to our long-term strategic
partnership with China and its aviation industry," Mr. Faury said.
"We are committed to working with our Chinese partners to shape the
future of the industry."
Last month, Airbus cut its delivery goal for the year as it
struggles to build the planes it has promised to airline customers,
but it remains poised to overtake Boeing Co. as the world's biggest
plane maker in 2019. Airbus expects to deliver 860 commercial
aircraft this year, a company record.
Airbus and Boeing have for years been ramping up production as
they seek to meet demand for more fuel-efficient, narrow-body jets.
Boeing has been hit hard by the grounding of its best-selling
narrow-body plane, the 737 MAX, in March, after two fatal
crashes.
Write to Ben Otto at ben.otto@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 06, 2019 06:00 ET (11:00 GMT)
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