Airbus and Turkey’s TAI to sign agreement on A350 partnership
Posted by meb at December 4th, 2008
European aircraft manufacturer, Airbus, and Turkish Airspace Industries (TAI) signed on Thursday a $500 million agreement for TAI to produce parts for the A350 passenger plane.
The companies said in a statement that 400 people would be employed directly as a result of the accord, while 1,200 people would gain indirect employment.
Tusas Chief Executive Atalay Efeer said this would be the first big-scale aircraft production program for Tusas in the civil aviation industry.
He added the mid-sized long-range A350 has already had 4,060 orders as of November.
“The Airbus A350 is a new type of a commercial airliner. The first flight of the plane is scheduled in 2012,” Efeer said in a speech at the ceremony held in Ankara.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, Industry Minister Zafer Caglayan as well as Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul joined high-level officials from both Airbush and TAI in the ceremony.
Erdogan said TAI has produced almost 300 F-16 warjets so far. “Our aim is developing genuine products in the air industry… A Turkish company’s maturity to take responsibility in a A350 starting from its design, shows the point we have reached in this sector,” Erdogan added.
source: Hurriyet daily news
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