=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/n/a/2006/10/26/financial/= f022952D27.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, October 26, 2006 (AP) Airbus CEO: China Orders 150 Airplanes (10-26) 04:15 PDT BEIJING, China (AP) -- China signed an order Thursday with Airbus Industrie for 150 mid-size A3= 20 planes as the European aircraft maker took a major step toward opening a planned Chinese factory. Airbus CEO Louis Gallois told reporters the 150 A320 planes would be assembled in China and delivered between 2009 and 2012. No details on price or which Chinese airlines would receive the planes were released. Airbus also signed a framework agreement with a group of Chinese aerospa= ce companies to operate a final assembly line for the A320 in the eastern Chinese city of Tianjin. China's government approved the plan for the factory in June. It will be Airbus's third final assembly plant and the first outside Europe. Aircraft assembly is due to begin in early 2009, using sub-assemblies se= nt from Airbus's European factories. Airbus says it wants production to rise to four aircraft per month by 2011. The deals were among a number of agreements signed at the start of French President Jacques Chirac's state visit to China. Toulose, France-based Airbus opened an engineering center in July 2005 in Beijing, where it also has a training and support. China on Thursday also signed a letter of intent to purchase 20 of Airbus's planned larger A350, which is still on the drawing board, but a firm decision is to be made later. Airbus and its American rival, Boeing Co., are looking to China to drive sales as the country's airline travel booms at a time when growth in other markets is slowing. In a report released Wednesday, Boeing said China will be the world's fastest-growing aircraft market over the next two decades, with airlines buying 2,900 new planes worth $280 billion. The latest Airbus deal represents a boost for the company in China at a time when it is struggling over management changes, cost-cutting and delays to its A380 super-jumbo jet project. -------------------------------= --------------------------------------- Copyright 2006 AP