Aviation News Item: 00747

18th May 2009

Source: ubmaviationnews.com

The first A320 assembled in Airbus' "Final Assembly Line China" (FALC) has completed its first flight today. The aircraft took off from Tianjin International Airport at 10:42am local time (03:42am UTC) and landed at 2.56pm (07:46am UTC). The four hour and 14 minute test-flight was jointly captained by Harry Nelson, VP production flight tests and by experimental test pilot Philippe Pellerin. The other crew members were SVP flight & integration tests Fernando Alonso and Zidan Ren, the first Chinese flight test engineer trained by Airbus, as well as cabin engineer Eric Garcia. "The flight was a complete success," said Alonso. This first aircraft will be delivered to Dragon Aviation Leasing in June and operated by Sichuan Airlines. Eleven A319/A320 aircraft are scheduled for delivery in Tianjin in 2009 and the FALC production rate is to be ramped up to four aircraft per month by the end of 2011. FALC is a joint-venture between Airbus and a Chinese consortium comprising Tianjin Free Trade Zone (TJFTZ) and China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC). Airbus China holds 51 per cent of the shares, while the Chinese consortium holds 49 per cent.

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