Airbus Industrie says deliveries to mainland customers next year will account for 20 per cent of its output, signalling the growing importance of the country's airlines to aircraft suppliers.
'That represents about 90 aircraft a year,' Airbus vice-president of market forecasts and research Laurent Rouaud said.
This compared with the 60 aircraft the French aviation giant would deliver to mainland airlines this year.
The mainland commercial aircraft market would be worth about US$230 billion over the next 20 years, Mr Rouaud said.
General manager of customer marketing Rick Jones said deliveries to the mainland last year accounted for 15 per cent of Airbus' production worldwide.
'China represents a larger and larger part of Airbus' business. It will soon account for close to 20 per cent of what we produce,' Mr Jones said. 'So we're paying close attention to the Chinese market.'
