A Hong Kong business journal has reported that Cessna is in preliminary talks with Chinese conglomerate AVIC on the subject of a joint venture between the firms to build and distribute business aircraft in mainland China. The story in the South China Morning Post quotes Cessna’s Trevor Esling as confirming that the talks are preliminary. The report follows an April disclosure that Cessna was one of several business aircraft manufacturers to participate in an request for proposals from AVIC and seems to confirm that Cessna and others are still involved in ongoing discussions.
The story goes on to say that “it is believed that competitors — including Gulfstream, Bombardier and Embraer — were in talks with AVIC as they eye the lucrative and undeveloped mainland market.” The quote was not directly attributed to Esling or to Cessna. Cessna VP of Communications Bob Stangarone confirmed that Cessna is indeed in talks with AVIC, though he described it as part of the ongoing request for proposal process, in which other business jet makers are also participating.
