A top Chinese aircraft manufacturer said Tuesday that it has the capability to produce large aircraft making it a potential competitor to aviation giants Boeing and Airbus.

 

The ambitious goal of State-owned China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I) was revealed on a day when the company made a breakthrough in the regional plane market by selling 60 MA60 turboprop and 30 ARJ21 turbofan jets for regional flights.

 

The control panel of a plane made by China Aviation Industry Corporation I is displayed on the first day of the Sixth China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai of south China's Guangdong Province yesterday. [Reuters]

 

Gu Huizhong, senior vice-president of AVIC I, noted that the country has the ability to manufacture large aircraft with at least 150 seats because of the experience of making medium- to long-range turboprop aircraft such as the Y-8s and the Y-10s; and earlier collaboration with McDonnell Douglas Corporation in producing MD-80 and MD-90 aircraft.

 

"We have prepared well for the project and hope the programme will be approved soon," Gu told China Daily on the sidelines of the ongoing Sixth China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, the country's biggest airshow held every two years.

 

His remarks came a day after Jin Zhuanglong, deputy commissioner for science technology and industry for national defence, announced at a high-profile aviation forum that China would design and manufacture large aircraft in the next five years.

 

Market demand for large aircraft is strong, said Wang Boxue, deputy director of the Aviation Industry Development Research Centre, a subsidiary of AVIC I.

 

According to a forecast released by the company yesterday, China needs an additional 3,110 civil aircraft from 2006 to 2025, of which 2,232 will be large-sized jets and the remaining 878 regional liners with fewer than 100 seats.

 

"The strong domestic demand means opportunities for China to develop its own large aircraft," Wang said.

 

In Beijing, Professor Lu Feng of the Peking University author of "Development Strategy of China's Large Aircraft" said the success of the large aircraft project could mean the revitalization of the country's aviation sector and affiliated industries.

 

Also yesterday, Airbus signed a joint venture contract with AVIC II and AVIC I to operate the European aircraft maker's engineering centre in Beijing.

 

The joint venture is 70 percent owned by Airbus, with AVIC II and AVIC I holding 25 percent and 5 percent.

 

The Airbus (Beijing) Engineering Centre will design the A350 parts that would be manufactured in China. The centre is Airbus' second largest engineering centre outside Europe after the one in the United States and has recruited 104 engineers.

 

The high-profile A320 final assembly line in China for which a framework agreement was signed during French President Jacques Chirac's recent visit is expected to employ about 600 people when it starts operation in Tianjin in 2009, said Laurence Barron, Airbus China president.

 

"There would be no difference between the A320s assembled in China and those in Europe," Barron said.

 

The single-aisle A320 is Airbus' best-selling model and the aircraft maker currently has a backlog of 1,600 A320s.

 

"We are ramping up our production. It's more work for everybody, so we will not take anything away from the assembly lines in Europe," Barron said.

 

(China Daily October 31, 2006)