Economy and Business
Airbus jets out the tenth A320 from China
By Wang Yu (China Daily Tianjin Bureau)
Updated: 2010-05-27 17:30
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 Airbus delivered the 10th A320 Family aircraft assembled at the Final Assembly Line China (FALC) this year to Shenzhen Airlines. |
Airbus delivered the tenth A320 aircraft on May 26 completed at the Final Assembly Line China (FALC) and is confident of reaching the year-end target of 26 for the whole year.
"The production of the FALC is well on track at the rate of two aircraft a month now and will continue to ramp up to assemble four aircraft per month as planned by 2012," said Jean-Luc Charles, General Manager of the FALC.
The 10th FALC assembled aircraft was delivered at the Airbus Tianjin Delivery Centre (ATDC) to Shenzhen Airlines to join their fleet of 36 A320s..
Since the very first FALC assembled A320 was delivered on June 23 last year, Airbus has delivered a total of 21 aircraft (11 in 2009 and 10 so far in 2010) to seven Chinese customers, namely Sichuan Airlines, Deer Air, Shenzhen Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Spring Airlines, Juneyao Airlines and China Southern Airlines. These include 16 A320s and five A319s.
"The final assembly line in China is right on track thanks to the efforts of the staff of the FALC and the Airbus Tianjin Delivery Centre and other Airbus in China teams. It's also thanks to strong support from Airbus in Europe as well as our Chinese partners," said Laurence Barron, Airbus China President.
The FALC is the first final assembly line of Airbus outside Europe and is almost identical to the latest state-of-the-art Airbus single aisle final assembly line in Hamburg, Germany. The FALC follows the same processes and uses the same critical jigs and tools as in Europe. About 480 employees now work for the FALC and have been trained in Europe. This ensures that the aircraft delivered in China are assembled to the same standards as those assembled and delivered in Europe.
The A320 Family, which includes the A318, A319, A320 and A321, is recognized as the benchmark single-aisle aircraft family. More than 6,500 Airbus A320 aircraft have been sold to more than 300 customers and operators worldwide, making it the world's best selling commercial jetliner ever. With proven reliability and extended servicing periods, the A320 Family has the lowest operating costs of any single aisle aircraft. Uniquely, the A320 Family offers a containerized cargo system, which is compatible with the worldwide standard wide-body system.
Airbus aircraft share a unique cockpit and operational commonality, allowing airlines to use the same pool of pilots, cabin crews and maintenance engineers, bringing operational flexibility and resulting in significant cost savings.
As of the end of April 2010, 481 A320 aircraft are in operation with 12 operators in China. Chinese airlines have ordered close to 600 A320s in total.
