January 29, 2009
European Aerospace Group EADS will sign a deal with Chinese firm Avicopter on Friday to build a factory producing composites for its new A350 jet, the Spanish government said.
The joint venture agreement to build a plant in the Chinese city of Harbin will be signed during a visit to Spain by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. Spain has a 5 percent stake in EADS, which owns plane maker Airbus.
The A350 will be 53 percent carbon-fibre composite -- a material lighter than aluminium, which is the conventional material used to make a plane's wings and fuselage. That allows designers to increase the number of passengers for the same fuel load.
Friday's formal signing follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Airbus and China to build 5 percent of the A350's airframe in China and a subsequent agreement to establish a composite factory in Harbin.
China has already signed a deal to locate a final assembly line for the Airbus A320 in the Chinese city of Tianjin.
An Airbus spokesman declined to give further details.
Earlier this month Airbus vowed it would break free of a string of damaging aircraft production delays as it began construction of a factory for the EUR10 billion euro (USD$13.08 billion) A350 project -- Airbus's response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
(Reuters)
European Aerospace Group EADS will sign a deal with Chinese firm Avicopter on Friday to build a factory producing composites for its new A350 jet, the Spanish government said.
The joint venture agreement to build a plant in the Chinese city of Harbin will be signed during a visit to Spain by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. Spain has a 5 percent stake in EADS, which owns plane maker Airbus.
The A350 will be 53 percent carbon-fibre composite -- a material lighter than aluminium, which is the conventional material used to make a plane's wings and fuselage. That allows designers to increase the number of passengers for the same fuel load.
Friday's formal signing follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Airbus and China to build 5 percent of the A350's airframe in China and a subsequent agreement to establish a composite factory in Harbin.
China has already signed a deal to locate a final assembly line for the Airbus A320 in the Chinese city of Tianjin.
An Airbus spokesman declined to give further details.
Earlier this month Airbus vowed it would break free of a string of damaging aircraft production delays as it began construction of a factory for the EUR10 billion euro (USD$13.08 billion) A350 project -- Airbus's response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
(Reuters)
