July 9, 2007 -- On June 28, Boeing and Chengdu Aircraft Industrial Co. Ltd. (CAC) rolled out the first composite rudder for the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The rudders will now be delivered to Everett, Washington for installation on the first Dreamliner to be delivered in 2008.

In 2004, CAC was selected by Boeing as a supplier to assemble and deliver parts on a long term basis for the Next-Generation 787 Dreamliner Program.

"The Chinese suppliers have already proven that they could deliver quality products at competitive prices and in the 787 Dreamliner manufacture, China is playing a very significant role, with the responsibility of making the rudder, the wing cowling panel and other compound material spare parts." Boeing's China spokesperson Olive Wang told Emerging China.

Aerospace industry leaders Boeing have now maintained a stable relationship with the Chinese aviation industry, since 1972.

"Boeing is the largest overseas customers of China's aviation industry," said Wang. "The most important investment of Boeing in China has been in training staff, especially in aviation safety, quality management, and enterprise management executives."

The rollout of the 787 Dreamliner rudder is being taken as a testament of CAC'S capabilities in the field of aviation components and reaffirmed its reputation as a high quality partner of Boeing.

Analysts have looked at the China-Boeing as being a mutually beneficial one.

"The cooperation with Boeing has influenced the development of the Chinese aviation industry," Lorry Li, a spokesman of Fitch Ratings, told Emerging China. "Also the Chinese Airline industry has always had a purchase plan for new Boeing aircrafts."

CAC is an affiliated company of China Aviation Industry Corporation and was founded in 1958. Having more than 18 years experience in providing components for civil airplanes, its technology capabilities include composite and sheet metal manufacturing, numerically controlled machining, tooling design and fabrication, and complex-structure assembly and integration.

"We entered into the contract with Boeing in 2005, the following year we delivered spare parts for the first time and now we have delivered the 787 Dreamliner's rudder," a CAC spokesperson told Emerging China. "CAC also built the 757 empennage in 2004 and currently CAC is also building the Boeing Next-Generation 737 forward-entry and over wing exit doors."