Employees assemble aircraft on the first final assembly line for the Airbus A320 series in Tianjin on Aug 1. WEI XIAOHAO/CHINA DAILY

Cargo ships carrying large Airbus A320 aircraft components arrived at Tianjin Port earlier this month, before being transported to the European aircraft manufacturer's final assembly line in Tianjin's Binhai New Area, where they will be assembled into passenger aircraft ready to take to the skies.

The Tianjin campus, which began production in 2008, was Airbus' first civil aircraft final assembly line outside of Europe. So far, the FAL has delivered more than 750 A320 family aircraft.

In addition to Tianjin, Airbus operates A320 family final assembly sites in Hamburg, Germany; Toulouse, France; and Mobile, Alabama in the United States.

Currently, Chinese airlines operate some 2,300 Airbus aircraft in China, its largest single-country market. The number accounts for over 50 percent of the market share in China, one-third of which were delivered from Tianjin.

The plane maker said it is expanding the A320 aircraft's final assembly capacity in Tianjin, with a second line expected to enter into operation early next year. The second line will not only expand production capacity in China, but also help satisfy demand from the global aviation market.

"China stands as an important strategic partner of Airbus' global map, and we will continue to insist on the 'in China, for China' business strategy," said George Xu, Airbus executive vice-president and Airbus China CEO.

"Now, the entire global supply chain system can't meet the growing demand worldwide. Airbus' delivery volumes haven't reached the peak levels of the pre-pandemic period of 2019. The supply chain requires further strengthening of capacity," he added.

The plane maker said that Chinese suppliers have shown strong motivation and intention to meet the manufacturing criteria of Airbus. The plane maker applies the same standards and methodologies of manufacturing in China, Europe and everywhere else in the world.

"Our cooperation with China has achieved extraordinary success," said Erik Buschmann, chief operating officer of Airbus China.

China's civil aviation market has been resilient and shown rapid growth. Last year, Airbus forecast that in the next two decades, the country will need 9,520 new passenger and cargo aircraft, accounting for over 20 percent of the total demand globally, and the total fleet size is expected to reach 11,160.

At the Tianjin center, a facility that spans 590,000 square meters, all necessary support facilities, including a large component warehouse, final assembly workshop, paint shop and delivery area are fully equipped. Fuselage sections and wings transported from Europe and China have been assembled, painted and ultimately delivered to airlines there.

Currently, the assembly line has the production capacity for the entire range of A320 single-aisle aircraft models, including the A321neo, shaping an aviation industry cluster encompassing manufacturing, maintenance and logistics, and becoming a key node in Airbus' global supply chain.

In the past few years, the A320 family aircraft's final assembly line has served the Chinese market and continuously expanded its international customer base, with delivered aircraft flying to Europe, Asia and the Middle East, joining the fleets of British low-cost carrier easyJet, Hungary's Wizz Air and Cebu Pacific from the Philippines.

"The newly built second final assembly line of Airbus in Tianjin will help double the production capacity of the single-aisle aircraft and further attract core suppliers such as Collins Aerospace and Safran Group to establish operations locally, thus driving the localized production of key aircraft components such as wings and nacelles," said Yin Li, director of the aviation industry development bureau of the Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone.

"This will help upgrade the local aviation manufacturing industry chain and enhance Tianjin's position in the global aviation industry landscape," he added.

Zou Jianjun, a professor at the Civil Aviation Management Institute of China, said the increase in the delivery capability of Airbus' final assembly line in Tianjin shows the attractiveness of the China market for Airbus and it regards Tianjin as an important facility.

"It demonstrates Airbus' recognition of the development of China's civil aviation industry chain and the country's final assembly capacity of civil aircraft, and reflects its recognition of China's investment environment," Zou said.