Xizi United Holding Corporation is making its air show debut at Asian Aerospace after being selected as the first privately owned Chinese supplier to the Comac C919 narrowbody airliner programme.
The company signed a memorandum of understanding in May to supply the C919's auxiliary power unit and ram-air turbine doors, and expects to sign a firm contract for the work by the end of the year, says Xizi research academy's senior aeronautical engineer Tan Wu. The eight other firms that signed MoUs for the C919 are state-owned.
Xizi, controlled by the family of its president Wang Shui Fu, has annual revenues of around $20 billion and is one of China's largest suppliers of lifts and cranes. It has ambitions to become a major aerospace industry supplier and a builder of general aviation aircraft.
"Our company is the only private Chinese aerospace company [selected for the C919]," says Tan, who was recruited less than a month ago as Xizi's first aeronautical engineer.
"This time the Chinese government changed their policy by allowing one private company to go into the aviation business," he says. "The government made some investigations and found that we have a very strong technical background."
Tan says Xizi's efforts have the support of China's central and regional governments, and could lead to the launch of a general aviation aircraft. "We have to prove ourselves first," says Tan, who adds that the company is exhibiting at Asian Aerospace to "introduce our company to this industry. We are trying to get some expertise from abroad, as well as from in China."
Tan expects Xizi's aerospace division to grow to around 200 staff in the next few years. He left China nine years ago to study and work in Canada, even becoming a Canadian citizen. "I think it's time for people like me to go back to join this big moment [with the launch of the C919]," he says.
Source: Flight Daily News
