The Chinese government has determined which local companies will be in the consortium that will have a large stake in Airbus's new narrowbody aircraft assembly plant in Beijing's port city of Tianjin.
China's state-run media says the consortium will be called Tianjin Zhongtian Aviation Industry Investment. Tianjin Free Trade Zone Investment will have a 60% stake in the business, which will have registered capital of 300 million yuan ($38 million).
Jiangxi Hongdu Aviation Industry and Hafei Aviation Industry disclosed to the Shanghai stock exchange that each would have a 10% stake in the Chinese consortium. China Aviation Industry I (AVIC I) will have the remaining 20% stake. Jiangxi Hongdu and Hafei, which are Chinese aerospace companies based in Nanchang and Harbin respectively, are part of AVIC II. AVIC I and AVIC II control most of China's state-owned aviation companies.
Airbus is tight-lipped about the equity split between it and the Chinese consortium, but earlier reports in China and overseas have cited unnamed industry sources as saying Airbus will hold 51%.
The yet-to-be built A319/A320 assembly plant will be near Tianjin's airport. It is due to deliver its first aircraft in 2009 and steadily increase production to four aircraft a month. The plant will be modelled after Airbus's assembly line in Hamburg and the airframe subassemblies will be sent by ship from Hamburg to Tianjin. The engines will be sent direct from the engine makers to Tianjin rather than via Hamburg.
Meanwhile, Airbus has been given board approval to further increase production rates on its A320 family aircraft to 36 aircraft a month by the end of 2008. The rate is now 30 aircraft a month and is due to reach 34 a month by late next year.
Source: Flight International
