Airbus Dual Final-Assembly Lines Power Aviation Ecosystem in China's Tianjin
Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone
TIANJIN, China, Oct. 14, 2026 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/--
The first aircraft assembled on Airbus' second A320 Family final-assembly line in Tianjin has been officially delivered in the Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone.
This marks Airbus' first aircraft deliveries under a dual-line setup since its initial final-assembly line went into operation in 2008. Two out of Airbus' ten global final-assembly lines are now located in Tianjin. The dual-line site has become a key pillar of the company's worldwide production layout.
Signed in April 2023, construction of Airbus' second Tianjin line kicked off in September the same year. It entered production in October 2025, with the first completed aircraft delivered in September 2026.
The project took only two-and-a-half years from contract signing to production launch, and less than one year from production start-up to first delivery. Covering 308,000 square meters, the complex comprises 13 standalone buildings, supported by 17 parking bays and six delivery bays.
Leveraged by overlapping supportive policies, Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone has streamlined regulatory procedures for cross-border transport of large aircraft components and bonded aircraft circulation. It has attracted upstream and downstream players specializing in nacelle integration, cabin equipment and cross-border logistics to set-up nearby. Such support enabled stable output right after the new line went operational.
The expanding Airbus footprint is accelerating the clustering of the local aviation industrial chain. Collins Aerospace and Safran, core suppliers of aircraft engine nacelles for Airbus, have established local presence. This achieves 100-percent local sourcing of nacelles for A320 Family aircraft assembled in Tianjin.
To date, more than 100 aviation-related enterprises have gathered in the Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone, among which 23 directly support Airbus operations. Four industrial tiers have taken shape, including final assembly and delivery, component-and-equipment manufacturing, maintenance-modification and after-market services, plus logistics support. Together they build a full-life-cycle industrial ecosystem for aircraft.
Regulatory services for industrial supply chains have also been upgraded. Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone pioneered China's bonded maintenance regulatory model for aviation. Innovative service mechanisms including "hour-based repair packages" and "standard-part interchange" have been rolled out.
Tianjin Customs has introduced a linked mechanism of "bonded maintenance plus credit-based management". Highly credit-worthy compliant enterprises are exempt from security deposits for bonded businesses. Regulators have also connected official supervision systems with enterprise ERP platforms.