Aviation Industry Corp of China names new chairman

Aviation Industry Corp of China, the country's leading aircraft maker, has named a new chairman, according to the State-owned defense conglomerate.

Information published on Friday night on the company's website shows that the new chairman is Cheng Fubo, 54 and a native of Chongqing, who was chairman of China North Industries Group Corp, the country's biggest developer of land armaments, before the latest appointment.

After graduating in 1992 from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Cheng started his career at the assembly line at Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, one of China's major combat plane manufacturers and an AVIC subsidiary.

He moved up through the ranks at the Chengdu company and became chairman in 2013.

Five years later, Cheng was transferred to Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, the nation's jetliner maker, as its deputy general manager.

In the summer of 2020, the businessman entered the government circles as he was named a vice-governor of Shaanxi province. He later became head of the organization department under the provincial Party committee and stayed in the post until the end of 2022, when a new appointment put him in the same post in Guangdong province.

After working for 17 months in Guangdong, Cheng received a new order in April 2024 that brought him back to the defense sector － he was named chairman of China North Industries Group Corp.

Before Cheng, AVIC's chairman was Zhou Xinmin, who took the office in March 2024 from the post of vice-chairman and general manager of Commercial Aircraft Corp of China.