Airbus deals soar with air travel market recovery

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus continued to increase investment in China, its largest market, by signing a batch of deals and further strengthening cooperation with the entire industry chain in China, driven by the country's strong demand and fast recovery of the air travel market.

Airbus signed an agreement with China Aviation Supplies Holding Co on Thursday, placing 160 commercial aircraft orders.

The new orders include 150 A320 Family aircraft and 10 A350-900 widebody aircraft, reflecting Chinese carriers' strong demand for new airplanes after the country optimized its COVID-19 response measures. The move has shown Airbus' confidence to invest in China in the context of Sino-US trade tensions.

"We are a global business by nature and it is time to come together again after the pandemic. We are honored to continue our long-standing cooperation by supporting China's civil aviation growth," said Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus.

"It underpins the positive recovery momentum and prosperous outlook for the Chinese aviation market. Airbus values its partnership with Chinese aviation stakeholders and we feel privileged to remain a partner of choice in shaping the future of civil aviation in China," Faury said.

Faury also signed an agreement with Tianjin Free Trade Zone Investment Co Ltd and Aviation Industry Corp of China Ltd to expand the Airbus A320 Family final assembly capacity with a second assembly line in Tianjin. The facility is expected to be put into operation by the end of 2025.

The second line in Tianjin will help contribute to Airbus' objective of producing 75 A320 Family aircraft per month by 2026 throughout its global production network. Currently, Airbus has four A320 Family final assembly sites worldwide, located in Hamburg, Germany; Toulouse, France; Mobile, Alabama, the United States; and Tianjin.

"The new facility in Tianjin is expected to help Airbus expand production capacity, promote sales and the delivery of new aircraft, and facilitate the purchase of new aircraft by Chinese carriers. It will help strengthen industrial cooperation between China and France and achieve a win-win for all parties," said Lin Zhijie, an aviation industry analyst and columnist at Carnoc, a major civil aviation website.

The Tianjin site began operation in 2008 and has assembled more than 600 A320 Family aircraft. In March, the first A321neo aircraft was delivered from the line, indicating enhanced A320 Family production versatility, Airbus said.

In addition, Airbus and China National Aviation Fuel Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen Chinese-European cooperation on the production of, competitive application and common standards formulation for sustainable aviation fuels.

The new agreement aims to optimize the SAF supply chain by diversifying sources and enhancing SAF production toward a goal of using 10 percent of SAF by 2030 globally, Airbus said.

In the past three years, despite the challenges brought by the pandemic, Chinese airlines have received 353 new aircraft from Airbus. This year, after China resumed quarantine-free cross-border travel in January, the country's domestic and international air travel markets rebounded quickly.

In March, China transported 47.68 million passengers by air domestically, which exceeded levels seen in the same period of 2019 before the pandemic, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Meanwhile, the C919, China's first domestically developed narrow-body passenger jet, is expected to be put into commercial operation this year. US aircraft maker Boeing's single-aisle B737 MAX aircraft returned for commercial use in China in January, after the aircraft was grounded worldwide in 2019 following two deadly crashes.