Europe’s aircraft manufacturer Airbus will shift the final assembly of modern commercial airliners to China to secure itself a larger share of the country’s rapidly growing and already worldwide second-largest air traffic market.

A joint venture agreement has been signed in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People with Germany’s Minister of Economy, Michael Glos in attendance.

The largest challenge for Airbus will be the training of local workers for the company’s first final assembly plant outside of Europe, which is currently being built in the port city of Tianjin, about 100 kilometers south-east of Beijing.

A project manager said with considerable truth, ‘Technically, we are starting out at ground zero’.

Some 500 Chinese employees will have to be selected, primarily mechanics, electricians, spray painters and logistics personnel. About 200 of them have already begun their training including intensive English-language lessons.

Lufthansa’s technical department will later provide aeronautics-specific training, which is to be conducted at Tianjin’s German-Chinese Vocational Training Centre.

The Chinese workers also will have to spend between 6 months and a whole year at the Airbus plants in Hamburg and Toulouse to gain practical experience alongside their European colleagues.

Production in Tianjin is planned to start a little more than one year from now, in August 2008, and 120 European employees will temporarily move to China to facilitate that launch.

The plant, adjacent to Tianjin’s airport, will be an exact replica of Hamburg’s modern final assembly facility, which specializes in short- and medium-range aircraft.

The first plane is not expected to roll off the assembly line before mid-2009, but once started, four aircraft of the model A320 should be finished each month, half the current output of the Hamburg plant.

Airbus parts will continue to be entirely produced in Hamburg, then shipped to China where only the final assembly will take place, which accounts for only 5% of the total value in terms of material and man hours.

Airbus continues to remain the preferred choice over Boeing in China.
Source: M and C

Continental Airlines will bid in 2009 for a new air route between the U.S. and Shanghai.

A Department of Transportation order has been released calling for an increased number of passenger flights between China and the U.S.

The announcement comes a month after both governments reached an agreement in Washington, D.C. The decision amended an older agreement that allowed only one new air route to China from the U.S. each year until 2010.

Under the new agreement, seven new daily routes will be added between the two countries over the next three years.

In 2007, the Department of Transportation will choose a new carrier for one additional route using a bid process similar to the one it undertook in January, when United Airlines won the rights to a nonstop service from Washington, D.C., to Beijing.

Next year, one nonstop daily flight will be added between the U.S. and Guangzhou to be provided by an incumbent carrier. In 2009, the DOT will add another new carrier, as well as distribute four available daily routes between the two countries. At the moment it would be fair to say the China’s international airlines are not ready to deal with this sort of competition. Some sort of joint venture suggests itself.
Source: New York Business

Starting pretty much now Air France will add two evening flights per week on its Shanghai-Paris route. The move takes the total number of flights between the two cities to 12 each week.

The new flights will be operated with Boeing 777-200 planes, with three classes of service and 263 seats in total.

Frank Legre, general manager of Air France China, said in a statement plainly written by a PR, ‘The additional flights are a further proof of our commitment to Shanghai and our determination to offer a better service to our customers.’

Air France will fly seven day flights and five evening flights between Shanghai and Paris each week. This is not including the airline’s code-sharing flights between the two cities, which are operated by China Eastern which could well try and emulate the in-cabin service of Air France.

Air France currently runs 42 weekly flights between four Chinese cities and France.
Source: Shanghai Daily

Japan and China have agreed to launch shuttle flights between Tokyo’s Haneda airport (shown here) and Shanghai’s Hongqiao airport starting in October.

The agreement was reached during a meeting between visiting Japanese Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Tetsuzo Fuyushiba and Yang Guoqing, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

In April, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao agreed on the launch of the shuttle service possibly within this year, so the two countries can mark the 35th anniversary of the normalization of their diplomatic ties.

Since then, Japanese and Chinese aviation officials have negotiated with the aim of operating four round-trip flights a day between the two airports.

The move is another push toward realizing a link of the three key northeastern Asian airports of Tokyo, Shanghai and Seoul with shuttle flights.

Japan and South Korea have been operating eight round-trip shuttle flights a day between Haneda and Seoul’s Gimpo airport. South Korea and China have agreed to set up shuttle flights between Shanghai and Seoul.
Source: Kyodo News

The prototype of the home-grown Advanced Regional Jet 21 is expected to shown next month at an aeronautics exhibition in Shanghai. Note this is display as opposed to fly. The maiden voyage, as it were, will probably be March next year.

The plane is in final assembly at Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Factory’s workshop in Baoshan District. First plane off the production line by the end of this year. Then the first test flight three months later.

Shanghai Aircraft’s assembly plant is affiliated to China Aviation Industry Corporation One which is the company currently trying to buy Airbus factories in Europe. The Shanghai plant will be able to assemble 50 planes a year although yearly output of 30 planes is anticipated during the first phase.

The ARJ 21 is the first jet for regional flights completely designed and made in China and is more important than it appears. With it China enters the self-sufficient jet age. From there the trajectory is skywards.

If all goes to plan next March that a Chinese mainland license for commercial flights will be issued in September 2009 which is when delivery to buyers is scheduled. The firm has received 41 orders for the advanced regional jet so that is the first years’ production already spoken for.

Premier Wen Jiabao announced in March that China will launch the development of trunk line planes in five years. Compared with trunk liners, which have at least 150 seats, the ARJ21 is designed to have two variants with a capacity between 70 to 100 passengers. Most of its components are to be manufactured by Chinese companies in other provinces before they are sent to Shanghai for final assembly.
Source: Shanghai Daily