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China’s aviation boom, driven by C919 and Airbus plant, an opportunity South Korean firms ‘must pursue’

  • South Korea’s national trade and investment promotion agency says China is moving aviation parts supply chains from North America and Europe to neighbouring countries
  • China is looking to ramp up aviation investment in the next few years, while it has received over 1,000 orders for its C919 narrowbody passenger jet

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China is still dependent on imports for the likes if its engines and landing gear for the C919. Photo: Reuters
Luna Sunin Beijing

South Korean aerospace manufacturers are poised to tap into China’s burgeoning aviation market amid post pandemic supply chain reshuffling and surging demand, according to a report.

China’s rising demand for aviation parts, largely due to the mass production of its home-grown C919 passenger jet and the construction of a second assembly line by Airbus at its plant in Tianjin, as well as nearshoring trends, are “opportunities that South Korean companies must pursue”, according to the report published earlier this month by South Korea’s national trade and investment promotion agency.

“Due to the unstable logistics and rapidly rising transportation costs during the Covid-19 period, China is increasingly moving existing aviation parts supply chains from North America and Europe to neighbouring countries,” the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) said in its report.

Buoyed by the post-Covid recovery in the global aviation sector, China’s civil aviation market – the second-largest in the world – is hoping to boost its domestic production with the narrowbody C919 designed to compete with Boeing and Airbus.

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China’s C919: first home-grown airliner makes international debut

China’s C919: first home-grown airliner makes international debut

The state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, the manufacturer of the C919, has plans to ramp up investment in the next few years.

It has already bagged more than 1,000 orders for the C919, including a deal for 100 aircraft for China Eastern Airlines valued at nearly US$10 billion, and six C919 jets with flag carrier Air China, requiring greater manufacturing capability.
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