Airbus to China

Airbus and Chinese officials announced an order worth 7.7 billion euros for 150 single-aisle A320 jets, and said they would also consider building an assembly line for the aircraft in China.

An assembly line in China would give Airbus an important edge. Airbus, whose headquarters are in Toulouse, France, and the Chinese government signed a cooperation pact Sunday that commits Airbus to buy at least $60 million in parts a year from China by 2007, rising to $120 million a year by 2010. In July, Airbus also set up the Airbus Engineering Center in Beijing, which has so far recruited 54 of a planned 200 Chinese engineers.

The question is where does this leave Boeing, which has been rivaling with Airbus for market in China and the rest of the world.

China is in the plane-making business. What impact will this have on US-based plane manufacturing operations? If commercial aircraft are built in your community, I would be paying serious attention to all these moves.

Read more here and read my earlier post on commercial airlines here.