Airbus woos China with first wide-body jet facility outside Europe - in Tianjin

Beijing

AIRBUS SE is courting China with its first wide-body jet facility outside Europe, positioning the company to chase billions of dollars in potential orders from an aviation market that's set to become the world's biggest within a decade.

Chief operating officer Fabrice Bregier will inaugurate the US$200 million completion centre in Tianjin on Wednesday. The site is designed to give finishing touches such as painting and cabin installation to A330 aircraft and aims to roll out two planes a month in a year. The city, near Beijing, is already home to an assembly plant that produces single-aisle A319s and A320s.