SUNDAY, JULY 13, 2003
Boeing plans $100-mn China joint venture
REUTERS
SHANGHAI: US aircraft giant Boeing plans a $100-million airplane repair and maintenance joint venture with Chinese partners in Shanghai late this year, the official China Daily said on Saturday.
"Boeing is looking at a long-term partnership (with China) and finding ways to expand it, to build on it for long-term future," the newspaper quoted Boeing's chairman and chief executive officer, Philip Condit, as saying in China.
Boeing executives were not immediately available for comment.
The aircraft maker hoped China would be involved in Boeing's 7E7 Dreamliner aircraft, which would be offered to customers in early 2004 and was expected to enter into service in 2008, the newspaper said.
"The role of China in the development and manufacture of the 7E7 airplane is being worked on at this time," Condit said.
Despite a grim period for China's aviation industry after the SARS virus deterred travellers this year, Condit was bullish about the market.
Air traffic in China has been growing at about the same rate as the country's economy -- eight percent last year -- putting it on course to become the world's second-largest commercial aviation market in 20 years, analysts said.
"Consider the market of 1.3 billion people. If the number of trips goes up by a factor of 50 as the market matures like in the United States, (it is pretty clear) how important China's market might be in the future," he said.
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