Original title: A "two-way rush" by "Airbus"
Text/Reporter Song Rui
Nearly 40 years since China introduced its first Airbus aircraft, the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus has been accelerating its cooperation with China's aviation industry. China provides Airbus with broad market prospects and a stable and reliable supply chain, while Airbus has driven many international suppliers to settle in China, and has the ability to supply the world from China to promote the development of the global aviation industry.
On March 31, workers were working at the construction site of the second final assembly line project of Airbus Tianjin. (Photo by Zhao Zishuo)
From 0 to 50%, actively expand the Chinese market
Completed the architectural planning and design drawings of the new plant, erected the construction enclosure guardrail, and promoted the construction of the power system...... Preparations for the second production line of the Airbus A320 family aircraft in Tianjin are in full swing towards the goal of being operational by the end of 2025.
"The Tianjin final assembly line is key to Airbus' global industrial strategy, and expanding the second line will help us create greater flexibility in our fragile ecosystem to meet the broader global market demand. "The stable and reliable final assembly line, the surrounding high-quality infrastructure, and the resilient supply chain make us very satisfied with the ecosystem and our Chinese partners and suppliers."Chinese ”
Airbus and China have been cooperating since 1985. In that year, China introduced its first Airbus aircraft. Later, Airbus began to cooperate with China's aviation manufacturing industry to carry out parts subcontract production. As the market share in China continued to expand, Airbus decided to establish Airbus China Co., Ltd. in 1994.
"In order to better serve Airbus in the world's largest single country market, we have to assemble aircraft closer to our customers. Xu Gang, Executive Vice President of Airbus Global and CEO of Airbus China, said. At that time, Airbus had only deployed two A320 family aircraft final assembly facilities in Hamburg, Germany and Toulouse, France, and the third was eventually located in Tianjin, China.
In September 2008, Airbus' first civil aircraft production line outside Europe was officially put into operation in Tianjin. In April 2023, Airbus announced the construction of a second production line in Tianjin to expand the final assembly capacity of the A320 family aircraft.
At the same time, to support the development of the final assembly line in Tianjin, Airbus has established a local supply chain ecosystem in China. From brackets, angles, and seats, to aircraft fuselage segments, wings, fuselage tail vertebrae, cabin doors and other components, more and more Chinese suppliers are cooperating with Airbus, and the "Chinese elements" on Airbus aircraft are also increasing.
AVIC Xifei has built a wing assembly plant adjacent to the Tianjin final assembly line, where the assembled and tested wings can be delivered directly to the Airbus Tianjin final assembly line, which can help save at least 60 days compared with the previous shipping of the wings from the UK to Tianjin, Shaanxi Hongyuan Aviation Forging Co., Ltd. produces titanium alloy forgings for Airbus aircraft engine and wing connectors, and Shandong Nanshan Aluminum Co., Ltd. supplies aviation aluminum alloy extrusions to Airbus......
"With the support of local suppliers in China, we are able to reduce the cost and complexity of our global supply chain, improve production sustainability, and better serve the Chinese market and the broader global market. Tao Haoan said. Up to now, more than 660 A320 series aircraft have been assembled in Tianjin.
The total value of Airbus' industrial cooperation with China is increasing year by year. In 2005, the value of Airbus aircraft parts produced by Chinese aviation companies was US$34.5 million, in 2008, Airbus's purchases in China exceeded US$100 million, and in 2010, the total value of Airbus' industrial cooperation with China exceeded US$200 million, and in 2020, this value exceeded US$1 billion.
With the support of China's stable and reliable industrial and supply chains, Airbus has delivered about 20% of the company's total global deliveries to Chinese customers every year. The Airbus fleet's market share in China has also climbed from about 20 percent in 2008 to more than 50 percent today.
"China's aviation industry ecosystem will support our further development, and we cannot do without our partners in China. Alberto Gutierrez (Chinese name Gu Tiehai), then chief operating officer of Airbus, said in September 2023.
From birth to "regeneration", "full life cycle" layout
From design drawings to the production and assembly of aircraft components, from soaring into the sky after the aircraft is delivered to decommissioning and recycling...... Airbus aircraft were born and "regenerated" in China, completing a set of "full life cycle" journey. At present, Airbus is accelerating the layout of the "whole life cycle" of aircraft in China, so that the industrial chain can be further extended in China.
Focusing on the "beginning" of R&D, Airbus has set up an Airbus China R&D Center in Suzhou Industrial Park, focusing on manufacturing innovation, hydrogen infrastructure, electrification, cabin experience and new technology research and development, and cultivating and incubating scientific and technological innovation projects with forward-looking technologies and good market prospects. The Airbus China Innovation Center in Shenzhen focuses on projects in the areas of manufacturing innovation, cabin experience, hardware labs and sustainability.
"This is not only the need to accelerate localized innovation and serve the needs of the Chinese market, but also a pragmatic measure for the company to integrate into the tide of innovation in China. We hope to promote the transformation and upgrading of the global aviation industry under the guidance of digitalization and intelligence. Xu Gang said.
Airbus has set up the only all-weather emergency repair and support center outside Europe in Beijing to provide comprehensive engineering solutions for Airbus aircraft in service in China, which can carry out R&D projects in the field of airframes, new materials and product recycling, as well as aircraft repair, maintenance and upgrades, and respond to customers' major structural repair needs in a timely manner. In terms of aviation training, Huaou Aviation Training, a joint venture between China National Aviation Supplies Corporation and Airbus China, provides training programs for Airbus aircraft operators such as pilots, maintenance, performance engineers and flight attendants. Since its launch in 1997, more than 50,000 registered trainees from more than 50 airlines around the world have been trained.
Extending the "end" of the chain, in January this year, the Airbus Aircraft Life Cycle Service Center was put into operation in Chengdu, becoming Airbus' first aircraft life cycle service project outside Europe, which will provide aircraft parking and storage to maintenance, upgrades, modifications, dismantling, recycling and disassembled second-hand spare parts distribution services for various aircraft types.
Airbus Aircraft Life Cycle Service Center photographed in Chengdu on January 24. (Photo by Liu Kun)
"Here, 75% of the storage aircraft will be stored and upgraded by the joint venture company and then flown again, and the rest of the aircraft can be disassembled to achieve more than 90% of the weight of the aircraft can be recycled, ushering in a 'new life' again. Xu Gang said.
Airbus predicts that China's passenger traffic will grow at an average annual rate of 5.3% in the next 20 years, compared with a global growth rate of 3.6%. By 2042, the world needs more than 40,000 new aircraft, of which more than 9,000 will be delivered to China.
Moon, executive vice president of Airbus Civil Aircraft Business Programs and Services, said that China's aviation services market will triple in value in the next 20 years, becoming the largest aviation services market, and Airbus will focus more on the Chinese market.
This confidence stems from the stability and predictability of China's market policies. The 14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Civil Aviation, jointly issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Transport, proposes that by 2025, the passenger traffic will reach 930 million, the cargo and mail traffic will reach 9.5 million tons, and more than 70 countries and regions will be navigable.
Xu Gang believes that the active construction of airports and other infrastructure across China has greatly improved air connectivity and unleashed the potential of air travel. Ke Lin, Managing Director of Airbus Helicopters China, is equally impressed: "China has made huge investments over the past few decades to introduce many general aviation airports across the country. At the same time, the Chinese government has taken steps to expand the opening of low-altitude airspace to civil aviation, allowing more general aviation and helicopters to operate in low-altitude airspace. China's aviation market has huge growth potential, and we will actively integrate into the Chinese helicopter industry ecosystem." ”
From local to international, Chinese companies are integrated into the global supply chain
In the past 40 years of development in China, Airbus has enjoyed many development dividends, and at the same time, it has also helped Chinese aviation manufacturers to further explore the international market.
AVIC Chengfei is one of the world's leading suppliers of Airbus single-aisle aircraft cabin doors, Shenfei Civil Aircraft is an important supplier of Airbus A220 series aircraft fuselage sections and doors, and Hafei Airbus Composite Manufacturing Center is the exclusive supplier of Airbus A350 series aircraft rudders......
Airbus continues to expand the boundaries of cooperation and help more Chinese private enterprises integrate into Airbus' global supply chain. Xizi United, which has been cooperating with Airbus for more than ten years in aviation components, has the most right to speak. Wang Shuifu, co-chairman of Xizi, said that up to now, more than 3,000 Airbus aircraft around the world have been equipped with parts produced by the company, which has helped the company to further enter the international market.
On November 9, 2022, at the Airbus Tianjin final assembly line, its first Airbus A321 aircraft was launched and began final assembly. (Photo by Zhao Zishuo)
At the same time, Airbus also encourages international suppliers to cooperate with China, driving many foreign suppliers in the aviation field to settle in China.
Pumei Airlines, which produces metal parts for Airbus, has settled in Suzhou Industrial Park, GKN Aerospace, which manufactures windshields for Airbus single-aisle aircraft, has settled in Jingjiang, Jiangsu, and Chemetall brand, which produces sealants for Airbus, has settled in Pinghu, Zhejiang......
Nanshan Feizhuo Aerospace Industry Co., Ltd. is also one of the typical representatives. As a joint venture between France's Feizhuo Aerospace Group and China's Nanshan Aluminum, the company has witnessed a win-win cooperation with Airbus' upstream and downstream suppliers. Richard Coleman, the company's managing director, said: "The establishment of this company is an addition to the global aviation supply chain and a strong proof of the win-win cooperation between China and France. ”
With nearly 40 years of in-depth cooperation, Airbus has driven the continuous improvement of China's related industrial chains. Airbus has about 19,000 suppliers in more than 90 countries and regions around the world, including more than 200 suppliers in China, and the number is steadily increasing, and all Airbus commercial aircraft models currently have components made by Chinese companies.
China's stable aviation industry ecosystem enables Airbus to supply the world from China and contribute to the development of the global aviation industry. At the end of June last year, the Airbus Tianjin final assembly line delivered two aircraft to Hungary's Wizz Air and Philippine Cebu Pacific Airlines, which was the first time that a Chinese Airbus aircraft was delivered to Europe and the Philippines.
Dr. Schlump, General Manager of Airbus Tianjin Aircraft Delivery Center, said that the continuous delivery of aircraft to international customers shows that the final assembly capacity of Airbus Tianjin final assembly line continues to improve, which can meet the needs of more international customers and continue to inject new momentum into the international civil aviation market.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, and Airbus's development in China has become a model of high-tech industry and high-level economic and trade cooperation between China and France, building a bridge of communication between China and Europe.
Published in the 9th edition of Reference News on April 25, 2024
Editor: Fan Lei