Airbus is celebrating 40 years of partnership with China's civil aviation sector, marked by the refurbishment of the iconic A310 aircraft in Beijing.
In an interview to mark the occasion, Erik Buschmann, Chief Operating Officer of Airbus China, highlighted the importance of strong local collaboration and government support in ensuring supply chain stability and fueling future growth.
"It all starts with somebody selling something. So, in this case, it was the first three ten (A310), which were sold to China Eastern, and that marks the starting point of an impressive journey. We achieved to enter and to land in China. The second one is then when we kind of really settled in and we decided to launch a production facility. This is when you go away from just selling, this is when you become local. So we set up the final assembly. And then the third one is when we then decide we'll actually do more. And by doing more is doubling the capacity in Tianjin. But not just doubling, but also what we call increasing our Chinese ecosystem. So we involve partners, suppliers in our Chinese footprint to make sure that we do more in China, for China," he told China Global Television Network (CGTN).
Reflecting on Airbus’s growing footprint in China, Buschmann emphasized the crucial role of local partnerships and the success of the company’s manufacturing operations in the country.
"First of all, it was a real adventure of ours to put an assembly line so far away from Europe. So, from that point of view, we have to say it was a super success because it worked. Second one, we discovered that just having the final assembly line is not enough. We need to have a system around us. So we were looking for partners and we found those partners, and we work with these partners today. And with that, we are more resilient. This year we will celebrate the 800th aircraft. We serve not only the Chinese market, we also serve other markets, whether it's European, Asian. We have good partners all over China-- even through the stressful years nobody really let us down," said the COO.
He described the energy and eagerness of the Chinese people as a constant source of motivation for Airbus, reinforcing the company’s belief that its presence in China is the right choice. Buschmann also emphasized the importance of strong government support, especially at a time when global trade tensions and tariffs continue to pose challenges for the aerospace industry.
"We will be looking for more Chinese partners in the near future who can help us locally to support. There is a Chinese seat supplier; we are trying to do more with them. There are Chinese cabin suppliers who we are looking at in order to make sure that we get more out of China. I'm always very appreciative and I like it very much. And for me it’s an energy to see the friendliness, the eagerness of the people to get something done. So that's a huge energy for us, which underlines every day that what we do in China, it’s right to do this in China. Then on the government side, we feel a lot of willingness to support us, which is very important in times like these, when we have tariffs and things like that, which make life difficult. And we count on that. We need that support because it is a global industry. And we need to make sure that these supply chains, the supply chains you were talking about, about 90 countries, stay in place. So we count on the support of our local partners, of the government, to help us to continue that success story in China," he said.
Airbus marks 40 years in China, highlights local collaboration, government support
