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Crisis not dampening Airbus China assembly target

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-21 20:05

Airbus, the world's major aircraft producer, plans to cut its monthly global production of A320 in October, but its assembly target in China will not change, a senior Airbus official said Tuesday.

Due to the global financial crisis, Airbus will cut the monthly production of A320 passenger planes from 36 to 34, but its target to produce 11 planes this year in China will not change, Marc Bertiaux, vice president of Airbus Cooperation and Partnership with China told Xinhua.

By the end of 2011, the Airbus Final Assembly Line in north China's Tianjin City will produce four A320 aircraft per month, mainly for the Chinese clients, he said.

Related readings:  Local carriers to get Airbus A320s  Airbus: No China airlines have cancelled orders  Airbus 320 aircraft wing project starts in Tianjin  Tianjin to focus on aviation, space industries

Since China was not as badly impacted as some other countries by the financial crisis, the country's economic growth has been maintaining a sound momentum, he said.

"The stable and fast economic growth of China has also strengthened our confidence to stabilize our aircraft production."

The Tianjin assembly line is mainly engaged in producing Airbus A320 passenger planes, and is the only final assembly line of the company outside Europe.

The first A320 aircraft assembled in the Tianjin line would start trial flight next month and is expected to be delivered in June to the Dragon Aviation Leasing, a China-based aircraft leaser, who will lease the jetliner to the domestic Sichuan Airlines.

Sichuan Airlines was also the first Chinese airlines company to introduce the Airbus A320 aircraft into China in 1995.