It is another move forward for Airbus as it expands its manufacturing and assembly beyond Europe – with the handover of the first A350 assembled in Tianjin
The A350 was completed at Airbus’s widebody completion & delivery centre in Tianjin (C&DC), China.
As for the customer – the A350-900 aircraft was delivered to China Eastern Airlines, the largest Airbus operator in Asia and second-largest in the world.
And in numbers terms – they are big operator – operating 413 Airbus aircraft. This is split in
- 349 A320 Family aircraft
- 55 A330 Family aircraft
- 9 A350 aircraft.
The widebody plant is located at the same site as the Airbus Tianjin A320 Family Final Assembly Line and the Airbus Tianjin Delivery Centre. The site covers the aircraft completion activities, including cabin installation, aircraft painting and production flight test, as well as customer flight acceptance and aircraft delivery.
The centre was inaugurated in September 2017 with its capability on A330s, with the A350s following an agreement was signed between Airbus parts of the Chinese Government in 2019.
In Quotes
George Xu, Airbus Executive Vice President and Airbus China CEO.
“I’m proud that Airbus successfully extended the capability of the widebody C&DC in Tianjin to the A350, the latest new generation aircraft, at such a difficult time of global aviation,”
“This is a new milestone in the long-term cooperation between China and Airbus, which further demonstrates Airbus’ commitment to the country. Congratulations to China Eastern Airlines, our long-term strategic partner, for receiving the first A350 delivered from China, and I appreciate their trust in Airbus and in our products as always.”
Continued growth
Airbus is continuing to take in the orders for the Airbus A350 family (comprised of the A350-900, the A350-900ULR and A350-1000), with 915 firm orders from 49 customers worldwide., with 436 being delivered, in service with 39 operators.
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