The first A330 aircraft to be assembled in Airbus' China plant is expected to be delivered in September 2017, as construction gets underway for the Airbus A330 Completion and Delivery Centre (C&DC) in Tianjin, China.

Construction of the A330 Completion and Delivery Center Tianjin started in March 2016 and now the center has finished basic construction work.

The A330 center will be capable of fitting out two A330s a month in 2018, with the first A330 jet to be delivered to customers in September 2017, the European manufacturer said at Zhuhai Airshow.

The A330 C&DC is co-located at the same site as the Airbus Tianjin A320 Family Final Assembly Line and the Airbus Tianjin Delivery Centre. The center will cover the aircraft completion activities including reception, cabin installation, aircraft painting, engine run and flight test, as well as aircraft delivery and customer flight acceptance.

"The cabin installation work of an A330, compared with a single-aisle aircraft such as A320 or B737, is four times more in terms of complexity and workload," said Francois Mery, Chief Operating Officer of Airbus China.

The A330 Family aircraft to be completed at the A330 C&DC Tianjin will be assembled in Toulouse while painting and cabin fitting will be performed in Tianjin.

As Airbus' first overseas completion and delivery site for A330, the center has so far recruited more than 110 employees, or nearly 40 percent of the total planned recruitment.

At present, the in-service Airbus fleet with Chinese operators comprises more than 1,434 aircraft (over 170 A330 Family and over 1,160 A320 Family aircraft). Airbus A330 is the most popular wide-body aircraft in China.

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