Airbus says China certification for A330neo jet progressing smoothly

By Sophie Yu and David Kirton

ZHUHAI, China (Reuters) – The head of Airbus China said on Tuesday that Chinese certification of its A330neo jet was going smoothly and the first delivery of the widebody model in the country could come in 2025.

Airbus China CEO George Xu also told reporters at China’s biggest air show in Zhuhai that the European planemaker expected its A330 passenger-to-freighter conversion to see rapid development in China.

Airbus has overtaken Boeing as a supplier to Chinese airlines during a deepening rift between Washington and Beijing that began during Donald Trump’s first term as president.

Airbus first established an official presence in China in 1994 and its first final assembly line outside the borders of its four founding European countries was opened in the city of Tianjin in 2008. It now produces the A320neo single-aisle family of passenger aircraft in Tianjin.

Xu said the company was deepening its industrial chain in China, noting it was important to Airbus’ global footprint. The company hoped to see its Chinese industrial chain supply global customers in addition to local ones, he added.

A quarter of deliveries from Tianjin in 2024 were to non-Chinese airlines including Easyjet and Wizzair, Xu said.

In April 2023, Airbus agreed to build a second Chinese assembly line for its A320neo family during a state visit to China by French President Emmanuel Macron, in a move to strengthen access to the world’s second-largest aviation market.

This assembly line will be put into use at the beginning of 2026, Xu said.

A completion and delivery centre covering activities such as cabin installation, aircraft painting and production flight tests was opened in 2017 for the A330, marking Airbus’ first wide-body jetliner centre outside of its founding countries.

Components produced by Chinese companies are currently found on all Airbus commercial jetliner models in production.

(Reporting by Sophie Yu and David Kirton, writing by Lisa Barrington and Brenda Goh; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Jamie Freed)