Air China Takes Delivery of New Airbus

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, July 17, 2003

Air China Takes Delivery of New Airbus

Air China, the flag carrier of China's aviation industry, has taken delivery of its first Airbus A319 for operation on high-density routes in prosperous regions in east China.

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Air China, the flag carrier of China's aviation industry, has taken delivery of its first Airbus A319 for operation on high-density routes in prosperous regions in east China. It is also the 2,000th member of the A320 family aircraft line manufactured by Airbus.

After a delivery flight from Hamburg, Germany, the vessel landed smoothly Wednesday at Xiaoshan International Airport in East China's Zhejiang Province.

The 128-seat aircraft, powered by V2500 engines from International Aero Engines, will offer a two-cabin layout, seating eight passengers in business class and 120 in economy class.

It is also the first airplane delivered to China after the outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).

"The A319 is an ideal aircraft for our short and medium-haul operation in the economically prosperous region of East China," said Sun Yude, vice-president of Air China and president of Air China Zhejiang Subsidiary.

"We will also benefit from the A319's similarity with other members of the Airbus family, which will help us reduce training and maintenance costs. The aircraft also offers more comfort to passengers with wider seats, aisle and overhead storage."

With seven more A319s to be delivered in the next two and half years, the aircraft would mainly operate on routes linking Hangzhou and Wenzhou cities with major cities including Xiamen, Fuzhou, Changsha and Guangzhou in the south, Chengdu and Chongqing in the west, and Beijing, Dalian and Qingdao in the north, Sun said.

Airbus China vice-president Jean-Hugues Depigny said the plane was the 2,000th aircraft of the A320 family, described by its manufacturer as "the world's fastest selling single-aisle family".

More than 110 A320 planes, including 21 A319s, had gone into operation by eight airlines on the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, he added.

China would be the world's second largest aviation market following the United States in 20 years, said Depigny, adding that the A319 would further enhance cooperation between Airbus and China.

Air China is the biggest civil aviation entity in China, operating 56 international and 266 domestic routes and offering 2,472 scheduled services weekly.

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