Wing delivery to Airbus marks milestone

XI'AN: Xi'an Aircraft Company (XAC), a subsidiary of China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I), yesterday made its first delivery of an Airbus A319 wing box - making the country Airbus' only wing box manufacturer outside Europe.

The wing box, or the main body of the wing and among the toughest structural parts of an aircraft, is valued $1.75 million per set. It will be dispatched to the Airbus assembly plant in Broughton in the UK.

"Airbus has ordered 250 sets of wing boxes from our company. We expect to make two sets this year. Production will pick up to four sets per month by the end of 2009, and then to six sets per month in 2010," Tang Jun, vice-president of XAC, told China Daily.