Airbus delivers 153 aircraft to China in 2016

BEIJING - Airbus delivered 153 aircraft to Chinese operators in 2016, its seventh consecutive year of more than 100 deliveries, said Airbus China on Friday.

The deliveries included 141 aircraft in its single-aisle A320 family and 12 of its A330 family.

Airbus' commercial aircraft deliveries reached a record-high of 688 worldwide in 2016 and with deliveries in China making up about 22 percent.

There are 1,383 Airbus aircraft in service in Chinese mainland, about half of the total civil aircraft with more than 100 seats on the Chinese mainland.

A joint venture between Airbus and Chinese partners in Tianjin has delivered more than 300 A320 aircraft since it went into operation in 2008.

On March 2, 2016, construction on the Airbus China A330 completion and delivery center started in Tianjin, where A330 aircraft will be completed and delivered to Chinese clients.

It is Airbus' first completion and delivery center for wide-body aircraft outside Europe. The first A330 aircraft is expected to be delivered from the center in 2017.