Xi'an Aircraft Industry (Group) Company Ltd (XAC), one of the largest plane manufacturers in China, delivered its first special freight parts to Boeing 747-400 yesterday in the capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

This special freight project for Boeing 747-400 is the re-equipping of Boeing passenger planes to convert them into cargo planes. It is being jointly carried out by Boeing, XAC, Japan's Mitsubishi and Taeco Company in China's Xiamen, said Gao Dacheng, general manager of XAC.

"This is the first time my company has participated in the re-equipment field for large aircraft in international aviation, which indicates that our management and production abilities have caught up with other leading aviation enterprises around the world," said the general manager.

"My company signed the contract to produce 99 floor beams, the most valuable components XAC has ever produced for a foreign aircraft company," Gao said.

According to a forecast report by Boeing, in the next 20 years, the world market will require a further 3,000 freight planes of which 75 per cent about 2,200 will be produced from re-equipping retired passenger planes.

XAC started producing parts for the freight project in October 2004. These parts produced by XAC will be used for the first re-equipped Boeing 747-400, which is being built in Xiamen by Taeco Company, and the first passenger-to-cargo plane will be put into operation by the end of this year, according to Kenyata, vice-president of Boeing China.

Boeing is scheduled to purchase aircraft' parts valuing some US$1.5 billion in China, of which many will be made by XAC. Kenyata commented on the high quality of the products made by XAC for Boeing, which has encouraged him to carry out long-term co-operations with XAC.

XAC, one of China's major civil aircraft manufacturers, started its international cooperation in the early 1980s, and has made more than 5,200 parts for Boeing, Airbus and other large foreign aviation companies over the past 20 years, Gao said.

(China Daily November 8, 2005)