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Chinese Aircraft Firm Delivers Tail Section to Boeing
The Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) Thursday delivered a tail section of the new generation of Boeing 737 airliner to the U.S. aircraft giant Boeing.
Under a contract signed in February 1995, SAC, a major aircraft manufacturer based in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, agreed to produce 1,000 tail sections for Boeing planes, said Li Fangyong, SAC's chairman and president.
The tail section delivered Thursday is the first made by China for Boeing. It marks a milestone in the development of China's aviation industry, Li said.
He said that the tail section, made of over 3,000 components, demands complicated processing and assembly technology.
In order to meet quality standards, SAC has invested 199 million yuan (about US$23.9 million) in technology upgrading over the past five years, Li said.
If all goes well, SAC will deliver another seven tail sections this year, a total of 50 next year and 14 per month in 2002, Boeing China Inc. public relations director Thomas McLean told Xinhua.
Chinese senior government officials have attached great importance to the tail section production and have inspected SAC several times.
At the roll-out ceremony, Fred Howard, president of Boeing China Inc., said that SAC's improvement in manufacturing capability enables the two companies to carry out closer cooperation in the future.
Since the new generation of Boeing 737 went into operation in 1997, Boeing has received over 1,360 orders. The medium and short range passenger plane is capable of carrying 110 to 189 passengers.
The model is popular in the international aircraft market.
There are so far some 4,000 Boeing 737 aircraft operational worldwide. China has purchased 183 Boeing 737 passenger planes, which are flying for 16 aviation companies.
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