The renewal of a training and support joint venture contract for two more decades between Airbus and China Aviation Supplies Import and Export Group Corp. (CASGC) was announced yesterday. .

The joint venture, called CASGC/Airbus Training and Support Center, will manage the Airbus satellite warehouse which will open in Shanghai next month.

 

Airbus will invest US$25 million in the joint venture in which both partners hold equal shares. The European aircraft manufacturer is also considering installing one A380 full flight simulator in the center at the end of next year. China's first A380 will be delivered to China Southern Airlines at the end of 2007.

 

"The extension of the contract demonstrates our strong confidence in the Chinese aviation market and our commitment to the healthy growth of this market," said Laurence Barron, Airbus China president.

 

"Most joint ventures in my experience are not renewed," Barron said. "In this case we are not only extending our cooperation with CASGC, on a 50-50 basis, but are doubling the contract period. That is proof of a very successful partnership," he added.

 

The partnership's existing center, located near Beijing Capital International Airport, is the first of its kind which combines training and customer support facilities in China. Airbus has invested US$80 million in the project. ?

 

The 8,200-square-meter training center is currently equipped with two full flight simulators, one for the single-aisle A320 aircraft and the other for the long range A330/A340. The support center has a floor space of 5,000 square meters and stocks aircraft spare parts worth a total of US$22 million.

 

Beijing is also home to the support centers of the Chicago-based Boeing, Canadian Bombardier Aerospace and Brazilian Embraer. But Boeing's training center is in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province; Bombardier in Qingdao, Shandong Province and Embraer in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province.

 

Airbus will open a satellite warehouse near Shanghai Pudong International Airport next month. The warehouse will store large parts for the A300/310 wide body aircraft and the A330/340 twin aisle planes.

 

"The opening of the satellite warehouse in Shanghai will be important for the future development of our joint venture," said Li Hai, CASGC president.

 

"China Eastern Airlines has the largest fleet of Airbus wide body aircraft in China," he said. "Shanghai is also a very important international aviation gateway that serves a growing number of international airlines. The closer we are to the customers the better service we can provide," Li said.

 

Airbus plan to deliver 80 aircraft to China this year which is a rise of 20 percent year-on-year. Boeing said two weeks ago that it would deliver 64 aircraft to Chinese airlines this yea -- a year-on-year increase of 23 percent.

 

By the end of March 264 Airbus aircraft were put into service on the Chinese mainland and this accounted for 32 percent of the market

 

CASGC's business covers import and export, leasing, maintenance and consignment of aircraft, engines, aviation parts and specialty vehicles. Since 1980, it has imported over 800 aircraft for Chinese airlines.

 

(China Daily April 28, 2006)