The celebration ceremony of Harbin Hafei Airbus Composite Manufacturing Center 10th anniversary in Harbin, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province on Thursday. Photo: Tu Lei/GT

Airbus celebrated the 10th anniversary of its joint venture (JV)  in composite manufacturing in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Thursday, a milestone to show its commitment to China after years' developments. 

The JV, called Harbin Hafei Airbus Composite Manufacturing Center, is  a joint venture between Airbus and its Chinese partners Aviation Industry Corporation of China and Harbin Development Zone Infrastructure Development Co Ltd.

It is now the sole composite structure supplier for A350XWB rudders, elevators, belly fairing and S19 maintenance door work packages. And it is also responsible for all A320 single aisle rudder shells and 80 percent of all rudder assemblies.

"The 10th anniversary is an important milestone for the manufacturing center and for our long-term partnership with the Chinese aviation industry," Francois Mery, Airbus Commercial Aircraft China Chief Operating Officer, said at the celebration.

 "We hope we can get a greater market share in China, and our corporation will not stop here," he added.

The factory started production with A320 work packages in December 2009. At the end of 2010, it started to manufacture components for A350 XWB. Currently, the composite parts made in the factory account for 5 percent of the body of an A350.

For the A320 program, it delivered the 1000th A320 rudder in June 2017, followed by the 2000th delivery in May 2019. For the A350XWB program, it delivered the 300th A350XWB elevator also in May 2019. And the 300th A350XWB rudder and 400th A350XWB maintenance door will be delivered in the coming months.

Airbus has been present in China for several decades, and more than 1,700 aircraft have been put into service in the mainland.

The industrial cooperation between the company and its Chinese partners dates back to 1985. The total value stood at $641 million in 2017.

"The value of industrial cooperation in China is expected to reach $1 billion by 2020, and the growing speed is further than our expectations," Mery said. "The Chinese market is growing quickly, and it will be the largest market one day and we hope we can win an enough market share here."

Mery also said that the Tianjin factory  is expected to deliver the first A330neo next year, and they are now in discussions to produce the A350.