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The provisional deal was signed during a state visit to China by
French President Emmanuel Macron.
Airbus said the latest Tianjin agreement would result in
production increasing to six aircraft per month - up from four
at present - at the local final assembly line for the Airbus
A320-family of jets.
The industrial ramp-up will target five aircraft by early 2019
and six per month by early 2020, it added in a statement.
A Beijing signing ceremony did not, however, include any deal
for Airbus to sell aircraft to China, despite earlier
expectations of a contract timed to coincide with Macron's
visit.
Industry sources had said Airbus was negotiating to sell around
100 planes to China's state purchasing agency, though a deal had
not been flagged as part of the diplomatic preparations for the
visit.
New orders for Airbus jetliners have historically featured
during such state visits by French leaders.
China regularly splits large orders between Europe and the
United States to cope with its fast-expanding airline traffic,
but the momentum has recently been with rival Boeing <BA.N>,
which sold 300 jets during a visit by U.S. President Donald
Trump last year.
China, however, placed a large order for 140 Airbus jets during
a visit to Germany by President Xi Jinping last July.
Some sources say Chinese officials are disappointed about a deal
last year for Airbus to buy the CSeries jet project from
Bombardier <BBDb.TO>, derailing talks with Chinese investors
after Ottawa intervened to keep the struggling program in
Western hands.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Writing by Tim Hepher; Editing by
Richard Lough and Mark Potter)
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