Shenyang aircraft corporation to produce A330/A340 doors

The contract for the manufacture of forward cargo doors of the Airbus A330/A340 Family aircraft was signed Wednesday by Airbus first-tier supplier Europcopter, Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) and the China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation (CATIC), with a contractual value of about 40 million US dollars.

The Shenyang Aircraft Corporation currently produces and assembles the emergency exit doors for the A320 Family aircraft, and is the sole supplier of such parts in the world. SAC has delivered more than 3,000 such doors. The company also manufactures fixed leading edges and wing interspar ribs for the A320 Family aircraft.

Five Chinese companies are already involved in producing parts for Airbus aircraft, namely the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, Xi'an Aircraft Company, Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, Hong Yuan Aviation Forging & Casting Industrial Group and Guizhou Aviation Industrial Group.

Airbus has announced plans to further increase its procurement from China, projected to reach 120 million US dollars a year by 2010, doubling the target for 2007. Airbus has already committed to increase its industrial procurement from Chinese suppliers from today's level of 15 million to 60 million US dollars each year by 2007.

Today, more than 3,500 Airbus aircraft are in operation worldwide, and over half of the Airbus worldwide fleet has components produced in China.

Airbus's business in China has been steadily expanding since it first entered the country in 1985. The Airbus fleet in service in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao has grown to more than 260 today from just 29 in 1995. A world-class training and support centre, which represents a 80 million US dollars investment by Airbus, is fully operational in Beijing.

Airbus is a leading aircraft manufacturer with modern and comprehensive family of airliners on the market. They range in capacity from 100 to more than 500 seats and incorporate the latest state-of-the-art technologies. Airbus is a global company with design and manufacturing facilities in France, Germany, the UK and Spain, as well as subsidiaries in the United States, China and Japan.