China's aviation market will grow rapidly in the next 20 years, President of Airbus China Guy McLeod predicted Wednesday after Airbus delivered its first A321 to China Northern Airlines.

Guy McLeod said that in the slumping global aviation market following the September 11 attacks in the United States, Airbus still valued China, because not a single Chinese customer asked for a refund or postpone of the aircraft.

China will need 1,600 civil aircraft in the next 20 years, according to official estimates. Airbus hopes to claim half the market, Mcleod said.

Airbus owns two comprehensive subsidiary companies, one of which is in China. Airbus also invested 80 million US dollars to build a customer support and training center in Beijing.

He said that China is the world's fastest-growing aviation market, and Airbus is the fastest-growing aircraft manufacturer.

Airbus will gradually strengthen coordination with Chinese manufacturers to make wing parts, he said.

North China Airline Receives First Airbus Plane

The first Airbus passenger plane bought by the North China Airlines arrived in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province Wednesday, marking that all major state-owned airline companies in China now have advanced large-scale passenger planes.

According to an agreement signed in March last year, Airbus will deliver ten A321 planes to the Chinese airline company.

The second plane will arrive in November, and another two will be delivered between 2002 and 2005.

The 185-seat planes have appealing interior design, and are installed with LPC and AOLS systems to improve the digital maintenance of the plane, which is cost-efficient.

Currently there are 90 A321s operating on nine Chinese airlines.

( People's Daily 10/25/2001)