After a highly publicized global search for foreign managers to help it modernize, China’s main military jet maker has hired six executives — all of them Chinese, a company spokesman said yesterday.
Aviation Industry Corp (AVIC, 中國航空工業) of China announced in February it wanted “new blood” from overseas to help it compete in commercial aviation. The move was unprecedented for a Chinese military contractor and reflected Beijing’s ambitions in civilian aerospace.
AVIC received nearly 1,000 applications from 20 countries and 10 foreign nationals were among 67 people in the final round of interviews, AVIC spokesman Ding Zhiyong (丁智勇) said. Ding said he did not know why only Chinese nationals were hired.
“Maybe there was a mismatch between the recruits and the posts,” he said. “We are still in contact with some candidates for experts’ posts. Some of them might not fit into management posts, but they are very skillful.”
Government-owned AVIC is trying to develop aircraft including a 150-seat jetliner to compete with Boeing Co and Europe’s Airbus.
The new managers, who include a former Chinese deputy mayor, will be vice presidents of AVIC’s defense, aircraft, helicopter, investment and international divisions, Ding said. He said several have doctorates or master’s degrees from foreign universities.
The Chinese government created AVIC in November by merging its two biggest military aircraft companies. It hopes to speed up weapons development and nurture a Chinese commercial aerospace industry.
China’s aviation market is one of the biggest and fastest-growing but has relied until now on Boeing and Airbus to supply jetliners.
Boeing has forecast Chinese carriers will need 3,400 new aircraft over the next two decades.
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