Fsimzone - FS X & FS2004 & FS2002 Downloads, Aircraft Panels etc. - Airbus Breaks Ground On China A320 Assembly Plant

Airbus said on Tuesday that it and Chinese government agencies would spend several hundred million dollars each on a plant to assemble Airbus A320 aircraft in China. China ordered 150 Airbus passenger jets in a USD$9.7 billion deal last year. "This is the first big milestone for future cooperation," Fabrice Bregier, chief operating officer at Airbus, told reporters at the ground-breaking ceremony for the plant in Tianjin's Binhai industrial area. He did not provide a breakdown of the investments or identify how many Chinese partners would invest in the plant. The first planes are expected to be produced in 2009, and the plant is projected to produce about 50 planes per year by 2011. China has previously announced plans to build its own large passenger jets, a move that could challenge both Airbus and rival Boeing. "Clearly we are open to discussions with Chinese industry" for development of China's own long-haul aircraft, Bregier said when asked about China's ambitions. He gave no further details.