CRI听力:Airbus Deal to Bolster China's Industrial Capacity Co-op

"The agreement has been signed by leaders from Airbus and China's Aviation Industry Corporation. Under the agreement, China will buy 45 A330 passenger aircraft from Airbus worth over 11 billion US dollars. The deal also has an option for an additional 30 aircraft, which will be worth over 7 billion dollars."

Tao Wenge with the Airbus China branch outlined some of the details of the purchase.

On top of the aircraft deal, Airbus has also agreed to establish a new plant in Tianjin, where the company is already operating.

Tao Wenge says the new plant will be specifically designed to do the finishing work on the A330s.
"The insides of all the A330's sent to China will be empty. The new plant in Tianjin will be responsible for installing the interiors, including finishing work such as painting and decorating. This project brings cooperation between China and France up from A320 production to wide-body planes. The deal is also going to be beneficial for other sectors in China."

Airbus' original manufacturing plant in Tianjin opened in 2008.

Since then it has assembled more than 200 A320s.

Airbus plans to spend 150-million euros in developing the new facility, which will be situated alongside the existing assembly line.

It's expected to be operational by late 2017.

A number of Chinese airlines are already flying aircraft built out of Tianjin.

Zhang Wu'an is with Chinese budget carrier Spring Airlines.

"We now have 50 A320's in-operation. Around 10 of them came out of the completion center in Tianjin. We always hope to buy more planes assembled in China. We think this will certainly help improve aircraft development in our country. "

The agreement with Airbus, overseen by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during his time in France this week, is also part of the Chinese government's attempt to create more "industrial capacity."
Chen Fengying is an expert with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

"Cooperation in industrial capacity includes working with other countries on research and development, as well as financing. This agreement with Airbus could be seen as a prototype for cooperation between China and Europe, and even the rest of the world."

For CRI, this is Xie Cheng.