Taichung Mayor Lin Jialong led a team to visit Airbus Headquarters in Toulouse on June 19, where they looked at the assembly line for the giant jetliner A380. Mayor Lin stated that Taichung has a complete aerospace processing supply chain. Aerospace Industrial Development Corp provides Airbus with parts and equipment, China Airlines fights for A350 maintenance orders. Through this visit, Mayor Lin hopes to promote Taiwan’s smart machinery and aerospace manufacturing power to Airbus, and create even more opportunities for international cooperation, as well as strengthening the technical capabilities of Taichung’s aerospace industry.
On June 19, Mayor Lin was received by Vice-CEO of Airbus Northern Asia, Pierre Lanore. After listening to a brief presentation at the Airbus Headquarters, they toured the A320 and A380 jetliner assembly lines, where they learned about the different production methods for the body of the plain, painting, the internal and external testing processes, and competition in the airline market.
A380 is a double-decker, 4 engine jetliner developed by Airbus, and currently flies the most customers in the world, breaking the record set by main competitor Boeing’s 747 jetliner. The A380’s assembly facility is gigantic, covering 18 soccer fields.
Mayor Lin stated that the city government invited industry, government, and academic representatives to travel to Airbus’ headquarters in France, in hopes of promoting cooperation between Taichung’s smart machinery and aerospace industries and Airbus. Currently Taichung’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corp provides Airbus with top grade parts and equipment, and China Airlines fights for A350 maintenance orders. Through this, Lin hopes to promote Taiwan’s smart machinery and aerospace industrial capabilities to Airbus, creating greater business opportunities.
The Taichung Department of Economic Development stated that Taiwan’s aerospace industry’s output value continues to demonstrate an upward trend, breaking NT 100 billion for the first time last year. In total, in the next 20 years, demand for commercial aircraft will reach 38,050 airliners, equivalent to USD 5.2 trillion. If the trend of switching out aircraft is taken into account, commercial aircraft demand is expected to double over the same time.
Taichung is home to the globally influential 60km Dadu Mountain Golden Valley industrial cluster, which contains complete up and downstream supply chains for the machinery industry and aerospace parts industry. Looking at the potential of the aerospace industry, the city government created the Aerospace Intelligence and Machine league (A.I.M.) in 2015, and worked with the central government to promote the Smart Machinery Industry Development Plan and Domestic Machinery policies. In March of this year, the Taichung City government, National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, the Industrial Technology Research Institute, and the Office for the Promotion of Smart Machinery signed a four-way cooperation agreement to help the machinery industry break into the commercial airline market.
Additionally, the city government also plans to integrate the Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation’s Shuinan plant, NCIST’s airline research lab, and its Aero 159 facility as aerospace industry headquarters. At the same time, the government plans to use the Qingquan Gang development, Qingshui District East Mountain and Haifeng Village, and AIDC’s Shalu plant as aerospace industrial parks. In addition, Taichung’s Qingquan Gang Airport will become an international airport, allowing nearby airline parts manufacturers and the airliner maintenance industry to fully connect and have a positive effect.
The Department of Economic Development stated that Airbus is an international air, space, and defense company, and, along with Boeing, is one of the 2 main commercial aircraft manufacturers in the world. Airbus has factories in France, Germany, the U.K., and Spain. Each factory only produces some of the parts for the aircraft, whereupon the parts are shipped to the main assembly line in Toulouse, where the aircraft is assembled, painted, flown for the first time, and undergoes testing, after which they are sent to clients after approval from the Henri Ziegler Delivery Center in Toulouse.