South Korean aerospace company Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. (KAI) said Friday
that it has been named the preferred bidder to exclusively supply wing parts to
Europe's Airbus SAS.
The deal calls for the building of wing bottom
panels (WBP) for Airbus' very popular A320 passenger jets for the duration of
the aircraft's production that may extend to around 2025, KAI said.
If
a formal contract is signed in the first quarter of this year, it will mark the
single largest civilian aircraft parts deal won by a local company, it
added.
The company based in Sacheon, 430 kilometers southeast of
Seoul, declined to disclose the value of the deal, but industry sources put it
at around 100 billion won (US$88.1 million) per year.
There are
currently 4,000 twin-engine A320 series planes in operation with 200 airlines
around the world and outstanding orders exceeding 7,000 planes. Annual
production of short and medium-haul planes that seat between 124-175 passengers
is expected to reach around 500 per year.
"The first WBPs can be
handed over to Airbus in early 2014," the company said. "Once production begins
in earnest, the latest deal can help push up KAI's civilian sector export volume
to around 1 trillion won in 2015, from 400 billion won tallied last
year.
KAI, which won a $600 million wing top panel supply contract for
the A320 from Airbus last year, said the latest deal could raise the company's
global competitiveness as a supplier of civilian aircraft parts.
The
company, meanwhile, said Airbus formally announced its parts request in June
2010, with KAI submitting its bid last year against rivals from such countries
as Britain.
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