Airbus Inks China Deals as Governments Break Ice on ETS
An A320 final assembly line will remain in Tianjin and Airbus is seeking to develop a supply chain in the region.
Under the terms of a new contract signed Wednesday, the A320 final assembly line in Tianjin will continue to run until at least 2025. (Photo: Airbus)
Under the terms of a new contract signed Wednesday, the A320 final assembly line in Tianjin will continue to run until at least 2025. (Photo: Airbus)

An extension of the contract to maintain the A320 final assembly line in Tianjin, China, by another 10 years led a series of agreements Airbus entered with Chinese partners on Wednesday that also marked the end of a bitter trade dispute over Europe's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The contracts, signed in Paris by Airbus president and CEO Fabrice Bregier and various Chinese parties and witnessed by French President François Hollande and visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping, accompanied a so-called general terms agreement covering the purchase of 70 Airbus airplanes by China Aviation Supplies Holding Company (CAS). The deal would include 27 A330 long-range widebodies, an order for which Beijing had blocked in retaliation for the EU's now suspended plan to impose ETS on airlines from outside Europe. The contract would also cover 43 A320-family narrowbodies.