Chinese-made aviation radial tires pass test flight in Guangxi

An Airbus A320 equipped with domestically produced aviation radial tires fulfilled its test flight in Guilin, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on Thursday morning. (Photo by He Pingjiang for chinadaily.com.cn)

On Thursday morning, an Airbus A320 landed smoothly in Guilin, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, marking the first successful test flight of a civil aviation aircraft fitted with domestically produced aviation radial tires.

Guilin Airlines conducted the verification test flight. The process was carried out in strict accordance with the flight test outline approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Over two days, nine test subjects were verified. The test flight results met the requirements of the approved flight test outline.

The aviation radial tire was developed by Guilin Lanyu Aircraft Tire Development, a subsidiary of Sinochem Holdings. The tire possesses independent intellectual property rights and has passed stringent tests stipulated by airworthiness standards. Its technical performance meets international standards, and in October 2024, it was awarded the Chinese Civil Aviation CTSOA certificate by the CAAC.

Zhang Yunxiang, deputy general manager of Guilin Lanyu Aircraft Tire Development, explained that the Airbus A320 series and Boeing 737 aircraft are currently the mainstream models in China's civil aviation fleet. In 2023, the company's aviation radial tires were successfully tested on the Boeing 737-800.

Previously, China's civil aviation tires were largely dependent on imports. The success of these two test flights signifies that China has preliminarily acquired the ability to domestically support tires for these aircraft models.