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European planemaker pro free trade, Airbus China head says

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Airbus faces growing EU-China and transatlantic trade

tensions

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Airbus committed to China supply chain, exec says

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Delays second Tianjin assembly line to early 2026 from H2

2025

(Releads with trade comments; adds quotes and background)

By Sophie Yu and David Kirton

ZHUHAI, China, Nov 12 (Reuters) - European planemaker

Airbus defended free trade on Tuesday as the aerospace

industry faces a growing cluster of economic tensions.

The CEO of the planemaker's China operations said Airbus was

"very much pro free trade" and its presence there was a showcase

of good cooperation between Beijing and Europe.

Trade ties between the European Union and China have been

marred by a dispute over electric vehicles, while Airbus also

faces a potential new transatlantic rift after Donald Trump won

U.S. elections with a pledge to impose widespread tariffs.

Asked whether Airbus was worried about the possibility of

tariffs arising from intensifying trade tensions between China

and Europe, Airbus China CEO George Xu said the European group

saw free trade as vital for global prosperity.

"We're looking forward to seeing if there is some progress

in these discussions," he said, referring to ongoing talks

between Beijing and Brussels over a European Union move to slap

tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles.

"We are not afraid of competition and we want to focus our

resources to develop the China market and develop partnerships

with Chinese partners."

Airbus has overtaken Boeing ( BA ) as a supplier to Chinese

airlines during a trade rift between Washington and Beijing that

began during Donald Trump's first term.

The two plane giants were embroiled in an 18-month trade war

over aircraft subsidies between the EU and the U.S. involving

mutual tariffs that spilled over to other sectors such as food

and luxury goods before a five-year truce was declared in 2021.

TIANJIN DELAY

Speaking to reporters at China's largest air show in Zhuhai,

Xu said Airbus was deepening its industrial chain in China,

noting it was important to Airbus' global footprint.

Components produced by Chinese companies are on all Airbus

commercial jets in production.

The company hopes to see its Chinese industrial chain supply

global customers in addition to local ones, Xu said.

Airbus first established an official presence in China in

1994 and its first assembly line outside its four founding

European countries was opened in Tianjin in 2008.

It now assembles the A320neo single-aisle family of

passenger aircraft in the northern port city.

A quarter of deliveries from Tianjin in 2024 were to

non-Chinese airlines including Easyjet ( EJTTF ) and Wizzair

, Xu said.

However, he signalled a delay of potentially several months

in opening a second Airbus assembly line in Tianjin, saying it

would start operations at the beginning of 2026.

Airbus agreed to build the new line during a state visit to

China by French President Emmanuel Macron in April 2023, in a

move to strengthen access to the world's second-largest aviation

market.

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury told reporters at the time that

the extra line would open in the second half of 2025.

Xu said Chinese certification of its A330neo jet was going

smoothly and the first delivery of the widebody model in the

country could come in 2025.

He also expected an A330 passenger-to-freighter conversion

programme to see rapid development in China.

(Reporting by Sophie Yu and David Kirton; Writing by Lisa

Barrington, Brenda Goh and Tim Hepher; Editing by Christian

Schmollinger, Jamie Freed and Muralikumar Anantharaman)