Airbus has offered China's aerospace industry a shareholding in the A350 programme, as part of a plan to increase outsourcing to the country.
"We've offered China a 5% risk-sharing stake in the development of the A350," says Airbus chief executive Noel Forgeard. Talks are under way with the country's two major manufacturers - AVIC I and AVIC II.
Forgeard says that by 2006 Airbus's outsourcing to China will have increased fourfold since 2000, and it will double again by 2010. He adds that an engineering centre will open in Beijing this year, which will employ 200 engineers by 2008.
MAX KINGSLEY-JONES / PARIS
Source: Flight International
