Aviation News
- Aircraft maker launches finance wing
Date: 10-Apr-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
AIRCRAFT maker AVIC I, charged with building a passenger jet fleet to rival Boeing and Airbus, has set up a finance unit with 1 billion yuan (US$129.6 million) registered capital to fund its development.
The unit, formed from the finance firms of two AVIC I subsidiaries, Xi'an Aircraft Industry Co. Ltd. and Guizhou Aviation Industry Co. Ltd., would be funded by AVIC I and its 11 subsidiaries, Xinhua news agency said Sunday.
'We have more or less finished building our financial platform. AVIC I is China's first military industrial enterprise to have both an international leasing unit and a finance unit,'Xinhua quoted AVIC I general manager Zou Ming as saying.
State-owned AVIC I, which makes components for Airbus and Boeing, and has experience in civilian jet development and manufacturing, provides China's military with 90 percent of its airborne weapons, Xinhua said.
In March, the State Council, China's Cabinet, approved in principle a plan to develop and build a fleet of large passenger jets as a matter of 'important, strategic policy.'
Industry sources told reporters that AVIC I, along with State aircraft maker AVIC II and the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, would be involved in developing the jets.
Last week, AVIC I started production of its 90-seat ARJ21 regional jet, which it hopes to deliver from September 2009 and has secured more than 70 orders for.
With its air passenger traffic growing at double-digit rates in recent years, China will need about 2,650 new passenger aircraft over the next 20 years, worth US$289 billion.
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