Airbus Opens China A330 Completion Plant

Airbus officially opened its first wide-body completion plant in China, located on the same site as its existing A320 assembly facility in Tianjin.

The plant will handle aircraft painting, cabin installation and production flight testing, plus customer flight acceptance and final delivery.

The facility is a joint venture between Airbus and the Tianjin Free Trade Zone Investment Company and Chinese aviation conglomerate AVIC. It will deliver two A330s per month from early 2019.

To mark the inauguration of the new plant, Airbus handed over the first aircraft completed there, an A330-200, to Tianjin Airlines.

“The inauguration of our A330 C&DC in Tianjin, together with the first of many deliveries, marks a new milestone for Airbus’s international footprint and underlines the strong spirit of cooperation with our Chinese partners,” Airbus COO Fabrice Brégier said.

Chinese airlines operate 1,484 Airbus aircraft, 1,282 from the A320-family and 202 from the A330-family.