European aviation giant Airbus delivered the first A320 aircraft made at its factory in China today, in an event hailed as a landmark in Sino-European cooperation.
A giant red curtain was pulled back to reveal the jet in a hanger during a ceremony at the factory outside the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.
The jet was the first to be completed at an Airbus factory outside Europe and company CEO Thomas Enders said it underlined the consortium's long-term relationship with China, one of the world's fastest-growing aviation markets.
The plane was delivered to Dragon Aviation Leasing and will be used by Sichuan Airlines, a regional Chinese air carrier.
Ten middle-distance A319/320 aircraft will be delivered by the end of the year, and the factory will then start to churn out up to four planes a month before the end of 2011.
The Tianjin plant, modelled on the Airbus factory in Hamburg in Germany, has an investment of nearly 10 billion yuan ($1.47 billion) and went into operation in September.
The joint-venture factory, about 120km southeast of Beijing, is 51% owned by Airbus, a subsidiary of the European group EADS, and 49% by a Chinese aviation consortium.
The venture has also revealed the extent that Airbus has gone to get a foot hold in one of the world's most dynamic markets.
China's air market, the second biggest in the world, makes up 15% of sales at Airbus, which sold its first plane here - an A310 - in 1985.
The decision to build the China plant was based on strong growth estimates that predict the nation will buy up to 2,800 passenger and transport planes over the next 20 years. These planes, of which 190 are expected to be jumbo jets, are valued at about $329 billion.
In the next two decades, passenger travel is forecast to increase five-fold, according to industry estimates. Airbus' goal is to gain half of the China market from now until 2012, compared with a 39% market share in mid-2008 and up from 7% in 1995. Its main rival is current global market leader Boeing.
