Airbus to deliver over 110 passenger planes to China in 2011
European aircraft manufacturer Airbus will deliver over 110 passenger planes to China this year, accounting for one-fifth of the company's total worldwide deliveries in 2011.
By Aug. 31, Airbus had delivered 67 aircraft, including 23 Airbus A320 planes assembled in northern China's port city of Tianjin to China. These aircraft make up 20 percent of the total aircraft delivered by Airbus worldwide during the January-August period, according to sources with the China Aviation Expo, which kicked off on Wednesday and will conclude on Saturday.
A total of 717 Airbus planes were in service in China by the end of August 2010, including 605 Airbus A320 passenger planes and 99 Airbus A330/A340 passenger planes, the sources said.
They added that the number of Airbus passenger planes in service in China's airlines has increased sevenfold over the past 10 years.
In June, Airbus obtained orders for 46 Airbus A320 passenger planes from China Aviation Supplies Holding Company and another 42 such planes from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Financial Leasing Co. Ltd.
The leasing company now owns 68 planes and it was the first time for the company to order planes from an aircraft manufacturer directly.
China imported its first Airbus A320 passenger plane in 1995.
