AIRBUS SAS has begun building an assembly plant in China for its 150-seat A320 airliner, Chief Operating Officer Fabrice Bregier said yesterday during a ceremony at the plant site in Tiajin.

The north China plant is destined to become the company's first factory outside Europe to assemble finished Airbus planes. It is scheduled to deliver its first airplane in 2009 and produce four aircraft a month by 2011, company officials said.

"This is a major undertaking of our company and clear evidence of the importance we attach to China both now and in the future," Bregier said.

Planes assembled at the Tianjin plant will be delivered to customers in China, according to a statement released yesterday by Airbus, owned by European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. Chinese airlines, which currently have 270 A320s, will need another 1,900 planes in the next 20 years, the statement said.