http://www.tanmarket.com - Airbus sees no serious impact on China plane market from slowing economy 02 march 2016 European planemaker Airbus breaks ground on its first wide-body completion plant outside of Europe in China as CEO Fabrice Bregier says he sees no serious impact on China plane market from slowing economy. SHOWS: TIANJIN, CHINA (MARCH 2, 2016) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. HANDOVER CEREMONY IN PROGRESS 2. SCREEN SHOWING PLANE WITH AIRBUS LOGO 3. AIRBUS CEO, FABRICE BREGIER, SPEAKING ON STAGE 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) AIRBUS CEO, FABRICE BREGIER, SAYING: "At Airbus, we are honoured to play our part and to open a major new chapter in our cooperation with you here today. I have every confidence that this centre will be a great success." 5. MEDIA 6. BREGIER WITH CHINESE OFFICIALS CLAPPING AND SHAKING HANDS FOR HANDOVER CEREMONY 7. BREGER AND CHINESE OFFICIALS WALKING OFF STAGE TIANJIN, CHINA (MARCH 1, 2016) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8. NEWLY COMPLETED PLANES PARKED OUTSIDE AIRBUS PRODUCTION LINE 9. WORKERS WALKING BY/ PLANE UNDER CONSTRUCTION 10. WINDOWS AND CABIN OF PLANE 11. WORKER ON CHERRY PICKER 12. WORKER ON CHERRY PICKER/TWO PLANES UNDER CONSTRUCTION 13. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WORKING ON PLANE 14. BREGIER SPEAKING TO MEDIA 15. CAMERAWOMAN FILMING 16. (SOUNDBITE) (English) AIRBUS CEO, FABRICE BREGIER, SAYING: "The economy is slowing down. This is true globally, this is not true for our market. And we believe that for the next five years, plus 10 percent growth year-on-year, in already the second biggest market in the world, meaning it's extremely important, is a very cautious assumption." 17. BREGIER SPEAKING TO MEDIA 18. (SOUNDBITE) (English) AIRBUS CEO, FABRICE BREGIER, SAYING: "China has focused, rightly so, on single-aisles (narrow-body aircraft) a lot, and will continue to procure a lot of single-aisles. But I am sure the next step will be getting more wide-bodies. So perhaps one day there will be enough market to look at such a big investment." 19. JOURNALISTS SEATED 20. (SOUNDBITE) (English) AIRBUS CEO, FABRICE BREGIER, SAYING: "We never say never. But so far we don't have a business case, because a final assembly line of a wide-body is of course much more complex, and much more costly. And we would need much bigger quantities to be delivered every year." 21. PLANE WING/PLANE UNDER CONSTRUCTION 22. WORKERS INSIDE PLANE UNDER CONSTRUCTION 23. WORKER 24. PLANE UNDER CONSTRUCTION 25. NOSE OF PLANE UNDER CONSTRUCTION STORY: European planemaker Airbus broke ground on its first wide-body completion plant outside of Europe in China on Wednesday (March 2), while its CEO Fabrice Bregier said he saw no serious impact on the China plane market from slowing economy. Airbus marked the handover of a completion and delivery centre for its wide-body A330 in Beijing's neighbouring city of Tianjin, which will be a new addition to its existing assembly plant for A320 planes. Asked whether Airbus would some day open an assembly facility for wide-body jets in China, Bregier said: "We never say never. But so far we don't have a business case, because a final assembly line of a wide body, is of course, much more complex, and much more costly. And we would need much bigger quantities to be delivered every year," said Bregier. Adding wide-body is a more viable option for Chinese airlines due to the country's fast-growing outbound leisure volume and lack of slots at major airports, he said. The number of Chinese leisure travellers going overseas for the first time topped 100 million in 2014, official data shows. Foreign travel is tipped to grow another 10 percent this year as the United States, France and Australia ease visa policies. State-owned carriers Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and their subsidiaries dominate the Chinese airline market, but they increasingly face stiff competition from HNA Group subsidiary Hainan Airlines and budget Spring Airlines. Aircraft leasing firms owned by Chinese banks and companies are also becoming an important source of planes globally. Collectively, these airlines and leasing firms have placed orders for hundreds of Airbus and Boeing aircraft worth tens of billions of dollars.

• published: 06 Mar 2016
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