Airbus to deliver first A330 aircraft this year (Lead, Superseding earlier story)

The Airbus is expected to deliver its first A330 aircraft in September 2017, a company statement said on Monday.

According to Airbus, by 2019 the Airbus China site in Tianjin, which is next to Beijing, will reach stable production capacity, completing and delivering two A330 wide-body aircraft every month, Xinhua news agency reported.

On March 2, 2016, construction on the A330 aircraft completion and delivery centre started in Tianjin, where A330 aircraft will be completed and delivered to Chinese clients.

It is Airbus' first completion and delivery centre for wide-body aircraft outside Europe. The first A330 aircraft was expected to be delivered from the centre in 2017.

Airbus delivered 153 aircraft to Chinese operators in 2016, its seventh consecutive year of more than 100 deliveries.

The deliveries included 141 aircraft in its single-aisle A320 family and 12 of its A330 family.

According to Airbus , there are 1,383 Airbus aircraft in service on Chinese mainland, about half of China's total civil aircraft with more than 100 seats.

The joint venture between Airbus and Chinese partners in Tianjin has delivered more than 300 A320 aircraft since it went into operation in 2008.

--IANS

gsh/ahm/