Airbus delivers 176 aircraft to China in 2017

BEIJING - Airbus delivered 176 commercial aircraft to China in 2017, its eighth consecutive year of more than 100 deliveries, announced Airbus China on Friday.

One fourth of Airbus' total global deliveries went to China in 2017, including 141 A320, 32 A330, and three A350XWB wide-body aircraft.

"2017 marks an incredible year for Airbus as we created a new record of global deliveries of 718. For Airbus, China is a crucial market and a strategic partner with win-win cooperation," said George Xu, Airbus China CEO.

By the end of the year, there were 1,546 Airbus in China, about half of the country's civil fleet.

On Jan 9 this year, Airbus signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Development and Reform Commission on industrial cooperation in Tianjin, North China's port city.

Airbus and its Chinese partners also signed a framework agreement to raise A320 production at the final assembly line in Tianjin to six aircraft per month from four per month.

Since Airbus set up a representative office in China in 1994, it has made rapid progress with cooperation worth about $600 million in 2017 and a target of 1 billion dollars per year by 2020.

"The win-win cooperation makes Airbus and China here today. We will surely find more fields to expand it, in the innovation sector or something yet to be discovered. It is our mission and chance," said Xu.