First Chinese-made Airbus takes off

The first Airbus passenger jet built at a new factory in China has made its maiden flight in a step the company hopes will help boost its share of aircraft sales in the expanding Chinese market.The A320 aircraft is the first Airbus to be assembled by the EADS European consortium at a plant outside Europe.In a test flight on Monday the aircraft took off from Tianjin airport in northeastern China and flew for four hours before returning to the same airport."This A320 assembled in China unquestionably demonstrated the same quality and performance as those assembled and delivered in Hamburg or Toulouse," Fernando Alonso, senior vice president at Airbus, said in a statement.Airbus began assembling A320 jets at its new Tianjin plant in September using parts shipped from Europe.It plans to begin its first deliveries of aircraft to Chinese airlines in June.The factory is jointly owned by Airbus, which has a 51 per cent stake, and a consortium that includes China Aviation Industry Corp., China's biggest aircraft maker which has ambitions to carve out its own name in the international aviation market.