Bloomberg reports on the ways China is helping to boost the global airline and aircraft manufacturing industries:
Deals backed by Chinese institutions in the last year include Bank of China BOC Aviation’s sale-lease-back of three Southwest Airlines Inc. planes, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd.’s first international leasing transaction, with British Airways Plc. Nigel Taylor, who leads Airbus’s aircraft finance, said China will gain more clout this year.
“The great advantage of China is that the country still has a fairly deep pocket of dollars, which is perhaps the major reason for their beginning to be more active than some of the historical lessors,” Taylor said in an interview from Toulouse, France, where Airbus is based.
The ascent of Chinese institutions from local funding suppliers to a global stage reflects the country’s rise in the air-travel industry. Chinese airlines will account for 20 percent of all Airbus planes delivered in 2010, compared with 3.5 percent a decade ago, with the majority of those jets getting funding from their home country, Taylor predicted.
