Airbus Industrie Asia (AIA) is discussing producing virtually the entire airframe structure for the planned AE31X family of regional aircraft in China, in an effort to reduce costs.
AIA and its two joint-venture partners Aviation Industries of China (AVIC) and Singapore Technologies (STAe) have agreed that production costs need to be 25% cheaper than those of the existing A320 programme in Toulouse. As the result of airline feedback, they are targeting a baseline price of less than $20 million per aircraft so that the AE31X can be competitive.
According to Western sources, one cost-cutting proposal under consideration is to move to China a significantly larger proportion of production work than AVIC's 46% programme share would otherwise suggest. This would entail AVIC's Xian plant producing almost the entire fuselage, in addition to just the wing as previously discussed.
AVIC would be required to make additional investments outside the programme's cost to upgrade its manufacturing infrastructure. The corporation has acquired a significant amount of machining equipment to support its Boeing MD-90 TrunkLiner programme and Boeing 737 subcontracting.
Critical structural and system work such as engine pylons and areas of the cockpit would remain the responsibility of AIA's four European partners, as would product and after-sales support. STAe's workshare is likely to be confined to producing wire harnesses and integration of vendor-supplied electrical and environmental-control systems.
At the same time, potential European and Western operators have expressed reservations about the perception of the quality of a passenger aircraft produced in and closely associated with China. In a move partially designed to address such concerns, the proposed joint venture is proposing taking over responsibility for and control of the Xian plant.
The production line, which is intended to turn out up to 50 aircraft a year, would be modelled on an Airbus plant, supervised by joint-venture personnel seconded from AIA's member partners. "It would be a Chinese factory, with Chinese workers, but would follow a Western system," says an official.
Workshare and joint-venture control of production are among issues still to be resolved for an overall agreement to be reached to begin development. Other areas under discussion include demands for sales- and import-tax exemptions, the site of the joint-venture headquarters and the cost of European technology transfer.
Source: Flight International
