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Airbus agrees
China has become a powerhouse of innovation; Airbus to use its tech expertise to help drive aerospace advancement: company executive
By
Tu Lei
and Fan WeiPublished: Mar 09, 2025 10:18 PM
An Airbus A350 aircraft without livery is pictured in north China's Tianjin Municipality, Feb. 11, 2025. (Xinhua)
The 2025 Government Work Report submitted to the National People's Congress for deliberation and approval has reinforced the country's commitment to sticking to high-level opening-up.
In a recent interview with Global Times, Airbus China CEO George Xu said that he is particularly interested in advanced manufacturing, the aerospace industry and the green economy, as China has become a powerhouse of innovation. The company is ready to actively embrace China's innovative power and leverage its technological expertise to help drive the progress of the aerospace industry.
The Government Work Report said that China will advance the integrated and clustered development of strategic emerging industries, carry out demonstration initiatives on the large-scale application of new technologies, products and scenarios, and promote the safe and sound development of commercial aerospace, the low-altitude economy and other emerging industries.
The booming low-altitude economy will further release the potential of China's general aviation market, and benefit the development of the helicopter market, the general aviation industry and the overall ecosystem. Airbus looks forward to the country introducing and implementing more policies on the opening of low-altitude airspace, said Xu.
Airbus is confident in the potential and prospects of China's civil aviation market growth in 2025 and beyond. China's civil aviation sector carried 730 million passengers in 2024, setting a new high. In the past two years, China added about 40 million aviation passengers each year, and the total flying population has reached 470 million, making the country with the largest aviation population in the world, he added.
Airbus predicts that the average number of flights per capita in China will increase from 0.5 in 2023 to 1.7 in 2043. As the market grows, China's fleet size will triple in the next 20 years, requiring more than 9,500 new passenger and freighter planes and 500 converted freighters.
rate business environment that is market-oriented, law-based and internationalized, enabling foreign-funded enterprises to achieve even greater business success in China."
In his view, China insists on a high level of opening-up to the outside world and continuously improves the business environment, helping the world to be more closely connected, which is also an important mission of the aviation industry.
"This year marks the 40th anniversary of Airbus in China. Our development in China is also the result of China's high-level opening-up to the outside world, so we look forward to seeing more positive signals for foreign-invested enterprises," he said.
"China is pursuing high-quality development in its aviation sector and Airbus is set to be part of it. We are continuously investing and expanding our industrial footprint in this country. For example, the construction of the second A320 Family final assembly line (FAL) in Airbus Tianjin is well underway with jigs and tools ready to be installed into Hangar 209." And, the second FAL is expected to enter into operation by the beginning of 2026.
"China has become a powerhouse of innovation, with a strong and comprehensive ecosystem that includes hardware, software and artificial intelligence," Xu said.
"We are ready to actively embrace China's innovative power and extend this technological expertise to the aerospace sector to drive the progress of the aerospace industry," he added.
From the research and application of advanced materials, to the optimization of air traffic control technology in aircraft operations, from the technical certification of the flight navigation ground based augmentation system, to the localization of big data solutions and the smart factory in Airbus Tianjin Final Assembly Line, Airbus and China are strengthening their technical cooperation.
"China has great advantages in operational efficiency and resilience, therefore, localization and industrial cooperation have always been our strategy," Xu noted.
For example, China's supply chain has shown great resilience while its talent team and product quality are also very competitive. Airbus focuses on deepening and enlarging its supply chain in China with the "local for local" strategy, in collaboration with both state-owned enterprises and the private sector. "We invest in quality work in China in a systematic way and are committed to becoming a model of cooperation in the high-tech aerospace industry between China and Europe," he said.
China has become a powerhouse of innovation; Airbus to use its tech expertise to help drive aerospace advancement: company executive
By
Tu Lei
and Fan WeiPublished: Mar 09, 2025 10:18 PM
An Airbus A350 aircraft without livery is pictured in north China's Tianjin Municipality, Feb. 11, 2025. (Xinhua)
The 2025 Government Work Report submitted to the National People's Congress for deliberation and approval has reinforced the country's commitment to sticking to high-level opening-up.
In a recent interview with Global Times, Airbus China CEO George Xu said that he is particularly interested in advanced manufacturing, the aerospace industry and the green economy, as China has become a powerhouse of innovation. The company is ready to actively embrace China's innovative power and leverage its technological expertise to help drive the progress of the aerospace industry.
The Government Work Report said that China will advance the integrated and clustered development of strategic emerging industries, carry out demonstration initiatives on the large-scale application of new technologies, products and scenarios, and promote the safe and sound development of commercial aerospace, the low-altitude economy and other emerging industries.
The booming low-altitude economy will further release the potential of China's general aviation market, and benefit the development of the helicopter market, the general aviation industry and the overall ecosystem. Airbus looks forward to the country introducing and implementing more policies on the opening of low-altitude airspace, said Xu.
Airbus is confident in the potential and prospects of China's civil aviation market growth in 2025 and beyond. China's civil aviation sector carried 730 million passengers in 2024, setting a new high. In the past two years, China added about 40 million aviation passengers each year, and the total flying population has reached 470 million, making the country with the largest aviation population in the world, he added.
Airbus predicts that the average number of flights per capita in China will increase from 0.5 in 2023 to 1.7 in 2043. As the market grows, China's fleet size will triple in the next 20 years, requiring more than 9,500 new passenger and freighter planes and 500 converted freighters.
rate business environment that is market-oriented, law-based and internationalized, enabling foreign-funded enterprises to achieve even greater business success in China."
In his view, China insists on a high level of opening-up to the outside world and continuously improves the business environment, helping the world to be more closely connected, which is also an important mission of the aviation industry.
"This year marks the 40th anniversary of Airbus in China. Our development in China is also the result of China's high-level opening-up to the outside world, so we look forward to seeing more positive signals for foreign-invested enterprises," he said.
"China is pursuing high-quality development in its aviation sector and Airbus is set to be part of it. We are continuously investing and expanding our industrial footprint in this country. For example, the construction of the second A320 Family final assembly line (FAL) in Airbus Tianjin is well underway with jigs and tools ready to be installed into Hangar 209." And, the second FAL is expected to enter into operation by the beginning of 2026.
"China has become a powerhouse of innovation, with a strong and comprehensive ecosystem that includes hardware, software and artificial intelligence," Xu said.
"We are ready to actively embrace China's innovative power and extend this technological expertise to the aerospace sector to drive the progress of the aerospace industry," he added.
From the research and application of advanced materials, to the optimization of air traffic control technology in aircraft operations, from the technical certification of the flight navigation ground based augmentation system, to the localization of big data solutions and the smart factory in Airbus Tianjin Final Assembly Line, Airbus and China are strengthening their technical cooperation.
"China has great advantages in operational efficiency and resilience, therefore, localization and industrial cooperation have always been our strategy," Xu noted.
For example, China's supply chain has shown great resilience while its talent team and product quality are also very competitive. Airbus focuses on deepening and enlarging its supply chain in China with the "local for local" strategy, in collaboration with both state-owned enterprises and the private sector. "We invest in quality work in China in a systematic way and are committed to becoming a model of cooperation in the high-tech aerospace industry between China and Europe," he said.
