China Aviation Industry Corp II (AVIC II), the country's leading manufacturer of military helicopters, will attach more importance to developing civilian aircraft to cash in on China's booming commercial aviation market, a top company executive said yesterday.
The State-owned enterprise delivered 132 planes last year, a record in the past five years, Zhang Hongbiao, president of AVIC II, said at an annual work conference.
Zhang said the development of large commercial aircraft would be a great opportunity for AVIC II to reform itself.
The State Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense is reportedly working on a plan to restructure the businesses of AVIC I and AVIC II. Details of the plan are expected to be announced in March.
A possible plan is to consolidate the commercial aircraft manufacturing businesses of the two enterprises and establish a new firm, which will become a shareholder in a joint-stock company responsible for the large commercial aircraft project, an unnamed AVIC II official had told China Daily earlier.
China plans to kick off the designing process of a homegrown large commercial plane during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) and the plane is expected to be ready by 2020.
AVIC II last year delivered three ERJ 145 regional jets to Hainan Airlines, which was the first batch of 50 ERJ 145 jets ordered by the airline in August 2006.
The 50-seat regional jets are manufactured by Harbin Embraer Aircraft Industry Co Ltd, a joint venture 49 percent owned by AVIC II.
Source:China Daily
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