On Thursday September 28, 2023, European planemaker Airbus broke ground on its second final assembly line for A320 narrow-bodies at its existing factory in Tianjin, China. The second final assembly line (FAL) at Airbus' Tianjin site is a part of Airbus' overall production expansion plan for the A320 family aiming to produce 75 aircraft per month in 2026 and will enter into service at the end of 2025. It marks another milestone after Airbus signed an cooperation agreement on the project with Tianjin Free Trade Zone Investment Company Ltd. and Aviation Industry Corporation of China, Ltd. in April 2023. Currently, Airbus has four A320 Family final assembly sites worldwide: Hamburg (Germany), Toulouse (France), Mobile (USA) and Tianjin (China). The Tianjin Final Assembly Line started operation in 2008 and has assembled over 600 A320 Family aircraft to date. In March, 2023, the first A321neo aircraft was delivered from the Final Assembly Line. 

      According to Brand Value (China) Network, over the next 20 years, the world needs around 39,500 new aircraft in the next 20 years and China is expected to add 8,420 new passenger and freighter aircraft between now and 2041, which is about 20% of the world’s total market. The expansion project represents Airbus' long-term commitment to the Chinese aviation industry. 

       Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury made some positive comments through videolink. He said “This is a powerful vote of confidence in the future of aviation here in China and it also underlines Airbus' long, trustful and successful relationship with partners in China. The domestic and international traffic in China, home to some of the world's leading airlines, is set for rapid and long-term growth.” In addition, George Xu, Airbus executive vice president (EVP) and Airbus China CEO, also made some positive reviews “This year marks the 15th anniversary of the inauguration of Tianjin Final Assemble Line, with over 630 single-aisle aircraft assembled and delivered. This means roughly 30 percent of the Airbus planes flying in China have been assembled here.”

      Mr.Hao Zhaoping, President of Aviation Industry Corporation of China, Ltd.believes that the Airbus Tianjin project is not only a major Sino-European strategic cooperation project but also an important platform for bilateral pragmatic cooperation, joint development and mutually beneficial outcomes in the aviation sector, which will also play an important role in stabilizing the global aviation industrial chain and boosting the recovery of the global aviation market.

     Airbus is the largest aeronautics and space company in Europe. In 1970, it was founded by French and German aerospace firms (later joined by Spanish and British companies) to fill a market niche for short- to medium-range, high-capacity jetliners. In 1974, its first product A300, a first wide-body jetliner equipped with only two engines for more economical operation, entered service. The twin-engine A320 entered service in 1988 and its four-engine A340 entered service in 1993 and its first product, the A300, entered service in 1974. It was the first wide-body jetliner equipped with only two engines for more economical operation. The twin-engine A320 (entered service 1988) incorporated numerous technical innovations, notably fly-by-wire (electric rather than mechanically linked), computer-based flight controls. The four-engine A340 (1993) and smaller, twin-engine A330 (1994) were long-range airliners. In 1985, Airbus entered the Chinese market nearly when an A310 was first delivered to China Eastern Airlines. In 2007, Airbus launched the A380, the world’s largest airliner, with a standard seating of 555 people and a maximum capacity of 853. In 2019, Airbus displaced Boeing as the largest aerospace company by revenue due to the Boeing 737 MAX groundings worldwide. By the end of June 2023, Airbus in-service fleet in the Chinese mainland reached 2,175 aircraft representing about 54 percent market share on the Chinese mainland.

     On the ranking of “The 3rd Daguan·Keweiwei World Brand Value Top 900 ”released on March 18, 2023, Boeing’s brand value was 144.387 billion RMB, ranking the 176th. Airbus’ brand value was 52.401 billion RMB, ranking the 521st.

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作者：杨瑞安