China seeks shared aerospace work worldwide

China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC) officials are in discussions with several business jet manufacturers, including Cessna Aircraft Co., regarding production of business jets in China. The AVIC officials have issued a request for information to which Cessna has responded.

“At this point the discussions are exploratory,” Stangarone said in an email to AOPA Pilot.

During the Paris Air Show, now concluded, a branch of AVIC, the Chinese Aeronautical Establishment (CAE), signed a memorandum of agreement for long-term cooperation in research and development with the National Aerospace Laboratory in the Netherlands, and the German Dutch Wind Tunnels.

China gains knowledge in several areas thanks to the agreement. These include aerodynamic research, design and testing, manufacturing with advance materials like composites, certification, avionics, and air traffic management, according to the National Aerospace Laboratory.

Under the agreement the organizations will work together on existing and future R&D projects to support subsidiaries of AVIC and CAE, strengthen the relationship between European and Chinese research projects, or work together on new developments, the laboratory said in a news release.

Zhang Xinguo, president of CAE and executive vice president of AVIC, said the Chinese civil aviation sector is growing, and will continue to grow, at double-digit rates.

CAE has 10,000 researchers and a global network of universities and organizations like those in the new agreement.