Aviation giant Airbus said Saturday it would set up its fourth biggest engineering center in Beijing to do aircraft design work for its super long-range

passenger plane A350.

Jean-Hugues Depigny, vice-president of customer services of Airbus China, told Xinhua that the center, which will be home to about 200 engineers, would be the second largest of its kind outside Europe after its engineering center set up in the United States.

An A350 passenger plane will carry up to approximately 300 passengers, said the vice-president.

According to a deal signed earlier this month by Airbus and China Aviation Industry Corporation II (AVIC II), the engineering center will be a joint venture between the two firms, and will be located in the Tianzhu Airport Industrial Zone, adjacent to the offices of Airbus China.

Philippe Delmas, Airbus executive vice-president in charge of government relations, communications and external affairs, said "China has a solid foundation in aviation industry with a number of top professionals."

"We believe that the Chinese engineers, together with their peers in other Airbus engineering centers in the world, will be able to contribute significantly to the design of Airbus aircraft in the future. The engineering center will also enable China to increase substantially the contingent of world-class aircraft engineers," said Delmas.

Chinese engineers have joined their partners of Airbus in Europe to design the A318 passenger plane, and five Chinese aviation firms turned out parts for Airbus.  More than half of the3,600-strong Airbus passenger planes in service have some of their parts made in China.

Airbus's business in China has kept expanding since it first entered the country in 1985. The Airbus fleet in service in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao has grown to 281 by the end of March from just 29 in 1995.

Depigny said Airbus, a leading aircraft manufacturer with the most modern and comprehensive family of airliners on the market, accounts for 53 percent of passenger plane orders worldwide in 2004.

Earlier this month, three Chinese airlines have signed contracts for the purchase of 30 Airbus aircraft.

China Southern Airlines has signed with Airbus for five A380s; China Eastern Airlines has signed with Airbus for five A319s, 11 A321s and four A320s; Shenzhen Airlines has signed with China Aviation Supplies Import & Export Group Corporation (CASGC) and Airbus for three A320s and two A319s, and becomes a new client for Airbus in China. 

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2005)