Airbus’s China bet has paid off: Enders

Frankfurt: Airbus chief executive Thomas Enders said Wednesday that his decision to build aircraft in China now stood vindicated both with the quality of the product, as well as the strengthening of the domestic market for air travel.

Airbus 320

Domestic air traffic in China increased by at least 20 per cent in 2009, even as it dipped elsewhere in the world. In an interview with German daily Die Welt, Enders pointed out that China is now set to overtake the United States as the biggest global market for air travel.

Airbus is assembling A320 aircraft at a new plant at Tianjin about 120 kilometres southeast of Beijing.

"The quality of Airbus aircraft from Tianjin today is just as good as from Toulouse or Hamburg," Enders said These are the company's other plants in southern France and northern Germany.

"When I began three years ago, that was my biggest concern."

Enders said the company's goal in China would now be "to be seen in China also as a Chinese firm, because we are creating lots of high-tech jobs there."

Airbus delivered its first Chinese-made plane in June last year to Dragon Aviation Leasing.

Airbus's joint-venture in China, for the manufacture of A320 narrow bodies, is 51 per cent owned by it and 49 per cent by a Chinese aviation consortium.