Airbus, the European aircraft maker, is betting that China’s fast-growing aviation market will not be blown off course by the wider economic slowdown as it begins building a $150m factory at its existing facility in Tianjin.
Fabrice Brégier, the chief executive of Airbus’s commercial aviation division, speaking in China, said 10 per cent annual growth in the world’s biggest market for new passenger jets was “a very cautious assumption” for the next five years.
He believes the new plant will help to cement the company’s position in China, forecasting that the Airbus fleet there will rise from about 1,250 aircraft to 2,000 by 2020. The plant, due to open in 2017, will fit out cabins and complete paint jobs for wide-body A330s.