China has secured its first component manufacturing subcontract for the Airbus A380 in addition to winning more A330/A340 work.
Airbus says the upper and lateral panels of the A380 nose landing- gear bay will be subcontracted to AVIC I via Latecoere of France, but it does not say which AVIC I subsidiary will perform the work.
Airbus will also allocate A330/A340 "forward cargo door projects" via Eurocopter. The work will be carried out by AVIC I subsidiary Shenyang Aircraft.
"This has been the first time for Airbus to involve China in producing A380 components," says Airbus, which has yet to sell A380s to Chinese carriers.
Five Chinese companies currently produce parts for Airbus aircraft: Chengdu Aircraft, Guizhou Aviation Industrial Group, Hong Yuan Aviation Forging & Casting, Shenyang Aircraft and Xian Aircraft.
The agreements were signed days after AVIC I and China's other state-owned manufacturing group, AVIC II, secured additional subcontract work from Boeing, including deals for the new 7E7.
NICHOLAS IONIDES / SINGAPORE
Source: Flight International
