Dhaka: European planemaker Airbus on Wednesday (Oct 22) opened its second final assembly line (FAL) for A320-family aircraft in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin, underscoring its confidence in the growth of China’s aviation market and the strength of its supply chain in the country.

The inauguration comes as 2025 marks the 40th anniversary of cooperation between Airbus and China's civil aviation sector, when the first Airbus aircraft, an A310, was delivered in 1985.

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury, speaking in Tianjin, said that in spite of difficulties, like Covid or other geopolitical challenges, "we are here, we continue to invest and we continue to ramp up," Faury said, as observed by a Global Times reporter on site in Tianjin.

Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao on Tuesday met with Faury. Wang said that in recent years, China's market scale has been steadily expanding, and it has become the world's second-largest consumer market and second-largest market for imports.

China will continue to advance the modernization drive through a Chinese path and develop new quality productive forces, which will provide broad development space for foreign-funded enterprises, including Airbus, the minister said.

Wang expressed the hope that Airbus, taking the opportunity of the operation of the second A320 final assembly line in Tianjin, would continue to strengthen cooperation with China and provide more high-quality aviation products and services for China and the world.

Airbus is willing to continue deepening its roots in the Chinese market, and contribute to promoting economic and trade cooperation between China and France, as well as between China and Europe, Faury said.

The opening of our second A320 family FAL in Tianjin is a tangible showcase of our long-term commitment to the Chinese aviation industry. This is one of our latest, significant investments in the country, according to Faury.

-B