First China-built Airbus due in July

By Tim Hepher

PARIS (Reuters) - China's Sichuan Airlines will become the world's first carrier to receive an Airbus built outside Europe when it takes delivery in July of an A320 jetliner assembled in China, an Airbus staff memo said.

Details of the historic delivery, almost four decades after the planemaker was born as a four-nation European consortium, were disclosed to employees in the internal note this week.

It comes as Airbus prepares to sign separate deals with China over investment in its next model, the A350, which will include new carbon materials and will be assembled in France.

Airbus, owned by aerospace group EADS (EAD.PA), began assembling some of its older A320 model of jets in Tianjin near Beijing in September from fuselage parts shipped from Europe.

According to the memo seen by Reuters, the Tianjin factory is now full, with four airframes assembled and a fifth in position.

Airbus and U.S. rival Boeing (BA.N) have been turning to Asian markets, led by China, for growth as demand weakens at home.

However, China too is now succumbing to the global economic crisis. In December, Beijing encouraged airlines to cancel or postpone 2009 deliveries due to falling air traffic.

Tianjin A320s are assembled from fuselage parts shipped from factories in France, Germany, Spain and Britain. Airbus aims to reach local Chinese output of four A320s a month by end-2011.