Airbus is expected to deliver its first A330 aircraft in September 2017 from its completion and delivery center in north China's Tianjin, said Airbus China on Monday.
According to Airbus China, by 2019, the Airbus China site will reach stable production capacity, completing and delivering two A330 wide-body aircraft per month.
"The cabin of the A330 is more complicated than the single-aisle aircraft due to the massive workload and difficulty," said Francois Mery,COO with Airbus Commercial Aircraft China, adding that the completion and delivery center will be responsible for cabin installation, painting and flight tests of the A330.
On March 2, 2016, construction on the Airbus China A330 completion and delivery center started in Tianjin, where A330 aircraft will be completed and delivered to Chinese clients.
It is Airbus' first completion and delivery center for wide-body aircraft outside Europe. The first A330 aircraft is expected to be delivered from the center in 2017.
To date, the center has recruited 160 staff, about sixty percent of its total hiring plan.
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 China, there are 1,383 Airbus aircraft in service in Chinese mainland, about half of the total civil aircraft with more than 100 seats on the Chinese mainland.
A joint venture between Airbus and Chinese partners in Tianjin has delivered more than 300 A320 aircraft since it went into operation in 2008.
