CHINA and India are rapidly turning into an El Dorado for Airbus and Boeing, the two rival manufacturers of large commercial jets. Of Airbus’s 1,100 orders last year, 500 came from China and India. Such is the demand that Airbus is close to deciding on whether to build an aircraft assembly line in China, its first outside Europe.

Tom Enders, joint chief executive of EADS, Airbus’s parent company, said the plans for a new assembly line were driven as much by necessity as a desire to demonstrate a commitment to the Chinese.

“We probably couldn’t satisfy the demand we see there out of Europe alone. The line will cater solely for the Chinese market, but even then it will not be able to meet all the demand itself. We will still be delivering aircraft from Europe,” he said.

This expansion drive is one of the first fruits of a new management regime installed last year after a bitter boardroom battle.

Enders and Noel Forgeard, the former chief executive of Airbus, became joint chief executives in June. The dual structure reflects the company’s unique history — EADS was formed from France’s Aerospatiale Matra, Germany’s Daimler-Chrysler Aerospace, and the much smaller Spanish aerospace group Casa. The British stayed away, but BAE Systems owns the 20% of Airbus not held by EADS.

Enders represents the German interests in the company, while Forgeard is the French appointment. French government and commercial interests hold a 30% stake, Daimler-Chrysler has 30%, with the rest floated on the stock market. Almost a third of the free float is owned by American investors.

EADS is also poised to set up a second assembly line outside Europe — in America, the backyard of arch- rival Boeing. The facility, based in Mobile, Alabama, would go into production only if EADS wins a share of a contract to provide tanker aircraft to the US Air Force.

The contract has been mired in controversy. Boeing was chosen as preferred bidder, only to be dumped after a procurement scandal.

A new tender is expected later this year. Enders said EADS’s chances of winning some or all of the order had been greatly increased by the forming of an alliance with Northrop Grumman, a heavyweight American defence group.

EADS is already in line for one big tanker contract. It was named preferred bidder more than a year ago on the Ministry of Defence’s FSTA project, a ￡13 billion, 25- year programme that is Britain’s largest private-finance initiative (PFI) deal. But despite endless negotiations, no contract has yet been signed.

Enders said the delay was due to the contract’s immense complexity — aircraft not required for front-line use will be leased to airlines — and the need for both sides to understand the ramifications of the deal.

“We are pushing as hard as we can, and we have a lot of faith in our financial model,” said Enders. “I think the lights are green. I think it will go ahead.”

EADS is already a significant player in the British defence market. It has the biggest share of Eurofighter, is making the new A400M transport plane, and manages Skynet5, another PFI project that provides high-tech communications to Britain’s armed forces through a fleet of satellites.

Before Christmas, ministers published a new defence industrial policy that hinted that Britain might not be so open with defence contracts in the future, saying that some key technologies had to be home-grown, and that contracts should be awarded with a view to nurturing domestic capability.

Enders said he did not feel threatened by the new policy. “I think the policy was clear that the government is not too worried about ownership, but by jobs, intellectual property and investment in this country. We don’t feel discriminated against.”