Chinese Airbus rolling off the lines in Tianjin

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From the Telegraph:

Once a month, an Airbus A320 passenger jet rolls out of an airy hangar on the outskirts of northern port city of Tianjin, China’s window to Western ideas for a century and a half.

Within two years these $72m (£43m) twin-engine jets will be emerging once a week. The number of French, German, British, and Spanish engineers “shadowing” the local work force will be down to a handful.

By then production of identical models of the A320 workhorse will be tapering off slowly at the Airbus sister plants in Hamburg and Toulouse, starting with a cut from 36 to 34 this Autumn.

The Chinese engineers learn fast. This factory kicked off nine months ago, a nano-second in aviation time. It takes longer in Britain to complete the paper-work for planning permission.

“It’s a miracle,” said Lan Xinguo, head of Sichuan Airlines as he took delivery last week of the first Chinese A320 – splendidly adorned in red with dragons – to the sound of the Star Wars film track. “What’s been done is beyond our imagination a few years ago.”

Lawrence Barron, head of Airbus China, said Tianjin jets are geared to voracious demand from local airlines, at least – and here comes the kicker – “in the early years”. There is no reason why an Indian, Australian, or European airline should not buy a Tianjin jet one day.

It is an odd arrangement. The Tianjin plant is a joint venture with China’s Aviation Industry Corp (AVIC), the 430,000-strong speahead of China’s drive to be an aeronautics superpower.

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