Chinese made flight(A320) a great success

The first A320 aircraft assembled in the Airbus Final Assembly Line China (FALC) successfully completed its first flight today. The aircraft took off from Tianjin International Airport at 10:42 am and landed at 14:56. Airbus began assembling A320 jets at its new Tianjin plant in September using parts shipped from Europe.

This first aircraft will be delivered to Dragon Aviation Leasing in June from the Airbus Delivery Centre in Tianjin and will be operated by Sichuan Airlines. Chinese customers have ordered more than 700 aircraft from Airbus, the majority of which are from the A320 Family. Eleven A319/A320 aircraft are scheduled for delivery in Tianjin in 2009 and the FALC production rate will be ramped up to four aircraft per month by the end of 2011.

China has become the world’s second largest aviation market after the United States. The country is estimated to need 2,670 passenger planes in the next 20 years.