Airbus ramps up in China and takes a step ahead of Boeing

This is one of the announcements that the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron will bring back from his official trip to China, from April 5 to 7. Airbus already has an A320 assembly line in Tianjin since 2008, 600 aircraft have come out of it at a rate of about four each month. And it is expected to rise to six later this year. Eventually, next year, eight planes will be produced each month. Enough to make the Chinese factory the second A320 production site, after that of Hamburg, Germany.

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Airbus now has a full order book of some 7,300 aircraft for international deliveries, and customers often have to wait several years for delivery. The extension of the Chinese production site is therefore welcome because it will allow the European group to step up the assembly of its planes with the agreement of Beijing.

China, the world’s second largest market

The industrial processes are very long and highly regulated by the Chinese authorities. And then this news comes on top of the finalization of some of the 300 pre-orders signed last July with the aircraft rental company China Aviation Company.

The rival and major American competitor Boeing, all of whose planes are produced in the United States, has suffered for several years from geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington. Airbus therefore takes a step ahead and manages to impose itself in the former Middle Kingdom, in the midst of the Sino-American trade war. The Chinese airline market is the second largest in the world. Any new offensive gained is a piece of land conquered.

Environment and energy transition

Demand for aircraft is picking up in proportion to the recovery in international traffic, both in terms of tourism and business travel. The European Airbus intends to establish itself on the international market with its technologies that emit less and less CO2. Lighter and less fuel-intensive aircraft like the A320neo. Airbus has China and India in its sights, the other major objective for this developing continent.