2011-03-01 11:23

HARBIN - A plant to manufacture and assemble airframe parts for Airbus wide-body aircraft started operation in China's northern industrial city of Harbin on Monday.

The plant, covering 80,000 square meters of land, is owned by Harbin Hafei Airbus Manufacturing Center, a joint venture between Airbus and its Chinese partners. It is designated to produce belly fairing parts, cabin doors, and other airframe parts for A350 XWB aircraft, company sources said.

The A350 XWB Family is Airbus' response to growing market demand for a series of highly efficient medium-capacity long-range wide-body aircraft. Its maximum flight range reaches 15,000 kilometers.

Airbus has agreed to allocate 5 percent of the A350 XWB airframe manufacturing to Chinese aviation industry. Airbus has a general assembly plant in northern industrial city of Tianjin, south of the Chinese capital Beijing.