CAAC and Airbus China jointly organised a seminar on A320 Family Fleet Management in China between 30th October and 1 November in the Southern Chinese city of Haikou. Attendees of the seminar include officials of CAAC, experts and technicians of Airbus and representatives of 13 Chinese airlines, which are current as well as potential customers of Airbus. The participants exchanged views on various topics relating to A320 fleet management.
The major topics for this seminar include: the Operation Review of A320 Family Fleet in China, Fleet Economics and Fuel Efficiency, Operational Support and Entry into Service Support, Aircraft Technical Status and Retrofit, In-service Enhancement Package, Upgrade of Flight Operation System and the Human Factor in Maintenance Errors.
Addressing the seminar, Mr. Xu Chaoqun, Deputy Director General of Flight Standard Department of CAAC, said: China’s aviation industry is facing both opportunities and challenges. The challenges are from such areas as talents, facilities, safety and management. Fleet management is a very important issue since it is the basis for safety operation.
The A320 fleet is one of the most important parts of civil aviation fleet of China. We are making great progress in the management of fleet, Xu said. However, we still need to further increase the level of management. This kind of seminar offers a good opportunity for various sides to exchange views and information to achieve more progress, Xu added.
During the seminar, participants discussed in more detail some issues that are closely related to the special geographic situation of China. The operation on high altitude airport is one of these topics. Since the high altitude operation in China is “very high elevation airport operation ”, it has more stringent requirement for oxygen system. Airbus can provide the Chinese carriers with customized supports according to the special condition of Chinese high altitude operation. CAAC officials explained the regulations on high elevation airport operation, which help airlines to abide by the regulations and help the local CAAC inspectors to oversee the implementation of the regulations.
Airbus experts and technicians briefed the participants of how to maximize the in-service fleet economics and the fuel efficiency and what kind of support Airbus can offer in operation support, entry into service support and in-service enhancement package. These supports can help the carriers improve the capability and reliability of the planes, increase the residual value of the planes and reduce the maintenance and operation costs. By upgrading the technology system, the performance of the older planes can be improved to match that of the newer ones.
Two airlines briefed the participants of the status of their A320 fleet. They spoke highly of the reliability of A320 aircrafts. Human factors in maintenance errors also drew the attention of the participants. They realized that it’s important to develop the safety culture and to increase the risk awareness.
Airbus is an EADS company.
