Three Chinese companies have agreed to set up an alliance to team up with Airbus to assemble A320 jumbo jets in north China's Tianjin Binhai New Area. The alliance, Zhongtian Aviation Industry Investment Company, will set up a joint venture with the European aviation giant.

Tianjin, the largest port city in north China, was chosen in August to house Airbus' first aircraft assembly plant outside Europe.

Currently, Airbus has two A320 assembly lines: one in Toulouse, France, the other in Hamburg, Germany. The Chinese assembly line project will consists of four parts: assembly workshops, paint shops, testing areas and a flight test facility. No figures were available about the cost of the project.

The three partners in the newly forged alliance are Tianjin Bonded Zone Investment Company, China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I) and China Aviation Industry Corp II (AVIC II), said a spokesman for Tianjin Bonded Zone.

In early June, the central Chinese government announced its plan to create a new economic zone at Binhai, 50 km from downtown Tianjin, which will aim to compete with the Pearl River Delta in the south and the Yangtze River Delta in the east.

The 2,300-sq-km Binhai New Area of Tianjin is located about 120 km southeast of Beijing. Preparatory work for the assembly line project -- including infrastructure planning, recruitment and equipment procurement -- is underway.

It is expected that construction of the assembly line project will begin before the end of the year. The first aircraft from the Tianjin assembly line will be delivered in 2008 and the plant will be able to produce four jets a month by 2011.

Source:佚名