Dunlop Aircraft Tyres supplying Chinese regional airline

China’s first privately-owned regional airline has awarded Birmingham-based Dunlop Aircraft Tyres a three-year deal to supply tyres for its expanding fleet of regional airliners. Under the agreement, Dunlop Aircraft Tyres will support China Express Airlines’ Bombardier CRJ900 NextGen aircraft.

The Guiyang-based airline operates nine of the 75-seat jets and the fleet will increase to 12 by the end of this year and to 30 by 2016. The aircraft operate services to cities including Chongqing, Ganzhou and Guiyang. Each aircraft is fitted with six tyres – two on the nose wheel and four on the main wheels.

“This is another significant export order that builds on our growing success in the Asia Pacific region,” said Dunlop Aircraft Tyres’ chairman, Ian Edmondson. “We will provide China Express Airlines with new tyres that have been made at our factory in the UK. They will be then distributed from and retreaded at our joint venture facility in Jinjiang, China.

“By making use of our operation in Jinjiang, the airline will be able to return tyres for retreading at a facility that is efficient and that is ideally located for quick and easy shipping to and from its hub airports,” Edmondson added.

Dunlop exports more than 80 per cent of its UK-made products and in 2011 won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for its international sales success. This week the company is exhibiting at the Farnborough Air Show, at Hall 4, Stand D10.