Airbus has been granted the Value-added Telecommunications (VAT) business license by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China. With this license, Airbus, as a wholly foreign-owned enterprise in China, is allowed to promote, sell and operate digital services in the country.
This VAT license will allow Airbus to help and accelerate the digital transformation of Chinese airline operators with products offered by Airbus and its flight operations subsidiary NAVBLUE. It will open opportunities for Chinese operators to benefit from new innovative services such as health monitoring targeted to enter the Chinese market in the course of 2025.
In 2024, the Chinese government announced plans to expand the opening of VAT services to the foreign enterprises in four pilot areas including Beijing, Shanghai, Hainan and Shenzhen. In these areas, foreign companies will be allowed to fully own and operate relevant VAT services such as internet data centers, internet access facilities and online data processing. Airbus joined the first batch of applicants and obtained the license.
The VAT enabled health monitoring service observes and analyses the health status of the aircraft and its key components in real time, which sends fault alerts to the operators in real time, minimising downtime and maintenance costs. In the future, Airbus will offer new services to the Chinese market such as predictive maintenance, digital solutions for Operational Control Centers, and Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) solutions for pilots.
George XU, CEO Airbus China, said: “Currently, China’s mainland operates more than 2,200 Airbus aircraft, accounting for 55% of China's in-service fleet. The Value-added Telecommunications license provides Airbus with more opportunities to enrich its aviation services in China and further improve the operational efficiency of Chinese airlines.”