WATCH: Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury on new generation of sustainable planes 

French aviation giant Airbus has unveiled to CGTN plans for a major new service center in south-western China. 

Construction is already under way at the site close to the city of Chengdu. 

When it's finished Airbus says the development, the size of 88 football pitches, will serve a variety of the world's top civil aircraft.

Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume Faury accompanied French President Emmanuel Macron on a trip to China as part of a trade delegation.

In an exclusive interview with CGTN, Faury said the development is part of wider investment plans in China . 

"We have a very good cooperation with several partners of the aviation sector," he said. "That has been beneficial for Airbus."

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When completed the hub will have capacity to service over a hundred commercial planes at any one time, including the worlds largest commercial jet the A380.

The development is also set to put sustainability at its heart, in line with China's 2060 net zero goals.

With around 30 percent of all aircraft materials recyclable, Airbus China's Vice President for Service Strategy & Development Hu Yongdong told CGTN: "We have to make sure it is sustainable growth, both environmentally, as well as financially for all parties."

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The new Chengdu hub is not Airbus's first investment in China. The plane maker already has an aircraft assembly line in Tianjin, its first outside Europe which opened in 2008. On the trip, Faury also signed an agreement to expand the Tianjin sites' assembly capacity for the Airbus A320, with a second line doubling output to 75 aircraft a month by the end of 2026.  

The signing was witnessed by China's President Xi Jinping and President Macron.

The volume of air traffic in China is forecast to grow at a rate of over five percent a year over the next two decades, far outstripping the global average of 3.6 percent. 

An estimated 8,500 new passenger and freighter aircraft will be required to service the demand. 

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