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China Conducts First Boeing Modification in Xiamen
The Xiamen Taeco Airplane Engineering Co., Ltd. cut a door on a Boeing 747-200 Wednesday to modify it into a freight plane.
The move marks the end of a history saying that China was unable to transform a large passenger plane into a cargo one.
A 7.26 meter high and 5.59 meter wide hole was opened on a Boeing 747 plane. A cargo plane doorframe with various control devices will then be installed there.
Glaine Russell, senior manager of the Wichita Modification Center under Boeing Airplane Services, said this was the first time that a door was cut on the Boeing Plane outside the United States. The Xiamen Taeco Airplane Engineering Co., Ltd.(XTAE) is capable of doing complicated door-cutting as the Boeing company in the U.S.
Chen Bingjie, chairman of the XTAE, said his company began preparations for transforming passenger planes into cargo ones ever since the Boeing company became a shareholder in 1997. The company dispatches many technicians abroad each year for technical training.
The XTAE, a Sino-foreign joint venture set up in 1993, now refits three Boeing planes annually. It has repaired over 200 planes for numerous overseas aviation companies since its inception.
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