Airbus Tianjin plant to assemble 36 A-320 planes in 2011

TIANJIN, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The joint venture of Airbus in China's northern Tianjin city planed to assemble 36 A-320 aircraft in 2011, a source close to the plant said Monday.

"The plan is still in the final stages of fine-tuning," Feng Zhijiang, director of the management committee of the Tianjin Tariff-free Zone, told an annual session of the Tianjin Municipal People's Congress, the local legislature.

The Airbus Tianjin assembly plant is a tripartite joint venture set up by Airbus, the Tianjin Tariff-free Zone and Aviation Industry Corporation of China.

By the end of 2010, the assembly plant had delivered 37 A320 planes to eight Chinese airlines, since the plant began operating in September 2008.

The first Airbus A320 plane assembled in the plant was delivered to the domestic Sichuan Airlines in June 2009.

Airbus A320 series aircraft are composed of four types, the A321, A320, A319 and A318. Currently, Airbus Tianjin assembles the A319 and A320 models.