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Airbus Hopes to Spread its Wings
Airbus Industrie's chief executive officer, Noel Forgeard, said Thursday he hoped China would make use of the company's new super plane during the 2008 Olympics if Beijing's bid is successful.
At a press conference in Beijing at the start of his 5-day visit to China, Forgeard admitted he had spoken to Chinese officials about the 555-seat double-deck Airbus A380 that is to enter service in 2006.
Forgeard, who last visited China in 1999, said the main aim of his trip was to learn how Airbus can better co-operate with the Chinese civil aviation industry in the future. Over the next three days, Forgeard is scheduled to meet with executives from Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and China Northwest Airlines.
He is also scheduled to visit Xi'an, which is one of China's main aircraft component manufacturing bases, as well as Shanghai and Guangzhou.
The visit has been interpreted by industry analysts as being timed to take advantage of strained China-US relations.
There has been speculation about whether the difficulties would affect business between China and the Boeing Company of the United States, the main competitor of Europe-based Airbus.
Thursday in Beijing, Forgeard met the Minister of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) Liu Jianfeng, and witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the future joint production of aircraft wing components by Airbus and the China Aviation Industry Group (AVIC).
Forgeard revealed that Airbus and the AVIC would start the project in two years. Forgeard predicted Airbus's market share in China, currently standing at 21 per cent, would greatly increase in coming years.
Airbus did not enter China until 1985, much later than Boeing. Despite the late start, Airbus managed to overtake Boeing with 58 per cent of the total orders awarded by China to the two firms between 1996 and 2000.
Both Airbus and Boeing have estimated China will require 1,600 aircraft, worth US$150 billion, over the next two decades.
The Chinese market is expected to become second only to the United States.
Competition between the two firms is expected to intensify. China's political relations with the United States and the European Union are seen as having a large impact on the business opportunities for both Boeing and Airbus.
Chinese officials admit that politics and business are often hard to separate.
Forgeard said the Chinese Government's approval of a plan to merge the nation's airlines into three groups would lead to business opportunities for his company. Airbus, a consortium of firms from France, Germany, Britain and Spain, holds half of the civil aviation market worldwide.
CAAC officials said the competition between Airbus and Boeing was good for China's aviation market.
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