Airbus’ China assembly facility marks 10 years of quality manufacturing for A320 Family jetliners

The success story at Tianjin has expanded from the build-up of single-aisle Airbus aircraft to completion and delivery of widebody A330s

In the decade since Airbus inaugurated its Final Assembly Line at Tianjin, China, over 380 jetliners from the best-selling A320 Family have been delivered from the site to both Chinese and international airline customers.

This facility – the first Final Assembly Line outside of Airbus’ European home territory – has achieved its purposes: meeting the demand of a dynamic air transportation market and expanding the global footprint to support the company’s industrial network.

The first Tianjin-assembled A320 Family aircraft was delivered in 2009. Since then, the production output has increased, reaching a forecasted rate of six single-aisle jetliners monthly by the end of 2019. This production increase is associated with consistent, predictable performance, supporting on-time and on-quality manufacturing and deliveries.

“The Tianjin Final Assembly Line was a strategic decision that took courage and innovation to implement,” said George Xu, the CEO of Airbus China. “With the momentum of China’s aviation market, it has become a model for Sino-European cooperation – opening new opportunities for our business development in China, as well as creating a solid foundation for the internationalisation of Tianjin and China’s aviation industry.”

Created in a joint venture with the Tianjin Free Trade Zone and China Aviation Industry Corporation, the Tianjin A320 Family’s Final Assembly Line now has more than 730 employees, and was expanded to the widebody jetliner segment with Airbus’ Completion and Delivery Centre for A330s. As with the Final Assembly Line, the A330 completion and delivery centre was the first of its kind for Airbus outside of Europe.

The initial A330 was delivered from Tianjin in September 2017, with seven aircraft provided so far to customers who are extremely satisfied in terms of both the cabin interior installation and the quality of fuselage painting.

To date, A330 and A320 Family aircraft have been provided from Tianjin to such carriers as Sichuan Airlines, Beijing Capital Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Loongair, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Air China and Air Asia.

Tianjin is one of four global locations for assembly of A320 Family jetliners, joining the other Airbus sites in Toulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany; and Mobile in the U.S. state of Alabama.