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AVIC I Becomes Airbus Engineering Partner in China
Airbus and China Aviation Industry Corp. I (AVIC I) signed an agreement at the show for the latter to become a new partner of Airbus’s Engineering Center.
Earlier this year, Airbus signed an agreement with the parallel AVIC II organization, giving it a 25% share in the Center. The first group of engineers from AVIC II have already started their training program at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France. By the end of this year, 50 will be undergoing training, increasing to a maximum of 200 by 2008.
Airbus’ Engineering Center is to be at Tianzhu Airport Industrial Zone, adjacent to the offices of Airbus China. The facility initially will perform aircraft-specific design work for the A350 program beginning before the end of this year.
The project will help Airbus to allocate the promised 5% work share to China. Airbus president and CEO Noel Forgeard said, “We believe that the Chinese engineers will make significant contributions to the innovative design of Airbus aircraft in the future. The Engineering Center will help China to increase the number of world-class aircraft engineers substantially.”
In the longer term, it is intended that China will become a risk-sharing partner in Airbus aircraft of a future generation, taking responsibility for investment, design and manufacturing of specific items.
Referring to this prospect, AVIC I executive vp Yang Yuzhong said, “We are very pleased to participate with this significant program and are looking forward to further expanding cooperation with Airbus.” —Paul Jackson
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