Airbus officially opened its first final assembly line outside Europe with Sunday’s inauguration of the A320 Family Final Assembly Line in Tianjin. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Airbus President and CEO Tom Enders officiated at a ceremony with more than 600 guests. The FAL is a joint venture between Airbus (51 per cent) and a Chinese consortium comprising the Tianjin Free Trade Zone, AVIC I and AVIC II. It is similar to Airbus’ Hamburg assembly line and its first aircraft will be delivered to Sichuan Airlines through Dragon Aviation Leasing in mid-2009. The facility will ramp up production to four aircraft per month by 2011.