Toespraak van minister Kamp bij het Sino-Dutch aerospace seminar

Toespraak | 27-01-2015

Ladies and gentlemen,

Every day, 1,700 flights by 92 airlines link Beijing with 236 airports around the world. Beijing airport is the second largest in the world, and it’s growing rapidly. From just over 1 million passengers a year in 1978, to nearly 84 million in 2013.

Beijing’s big, high-tech airport is emblematic of China’s growing and innovative aviation sector. Worldwide air traffic is set to double between 2014 and 2029. Last year alone saw a rise of more than 5 percent compared to the previous year. That was largely due to increased demand for internal flights in China.

Of course, China is responding to that growth. Over the next few years, the Chinese government plans to spend hundreds of billions on building the aerospace-industry and infrastructure of the future. New airports will open every year. China will be the biggest growth market for large aircraft manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus. And you are also working on your own fleets, to compete on the international aviation market. Your ambition is impressive. I would like to congratulate all those involved in the recent certification of China’s first homegrown airliner, the Comac ARJ21. A major milestone after many years of development and flight-testing.

And these are by no means isolated ambitions. Three years ago in his book about Chinese aviation, an American journalist and pilot wrote: 'China’s aerospace-future is a test-case for its economic and technological development as a whole.' The challenges facing the country’s aviation-industry cut to the heart of China’s economic challenges today, especially in the field of innovation. 'Made in China' will become 'Made by China' in the case of aircraft, too. Moreover, China’s increasingly busy airspace is creating demand not only for more, but also for ever greener and safer aircraft. This technological-leap represents a major R&D-challenge to businesses, educators and the Chinese government.

The Netherlands would like to partner with China in tackling these challenges. We have a lot to offer in the field of aircraft-manufacture and services. For over a century our country has been active in international aviation. It’s now almost 100 years since KLM, our flag carrier, was founded. It is the oldest airline in the world. And it pioneered intercontinental commercial flight. At the end of the 1920s, the Dutch firm of Fokker was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, with factories in the Netherlands and the US.

Thanks to that century of expertise, our companies are still internationally renowned. Nowadays the Netherlands doesn’t have a large aircraft-manufacturer anymore, but it does have over 100 specialised companies and institutes involved in every aspect of the development, production and operation of aircraft, as well as training and education.

The Dutch aerospace-industry employs around 16,000 people, and has an annual turnover of 2.3 billion euro's, 80 percent from export. We also directly employ over 1.000 skilled technicians in China in a variety of aerospace-jobs.

These Dutch companies are a strategic part of the supply-chain of foreign Original-Equipment-Manufacturers. We have a long track record of joint R&D-collaboration with international partners. Our companies work with almost every aircraft- and engine-manufacturer in the industry, including Boeing, Airbus and Bombardier. Dutch businesses have been instrumental in the development of these firms’ newest airliners, such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A380 and A350.

• The Ten Cate company produces high-end composites for use in aircraft interiors, for instance.
• Fokker Technologies developed and now produces lightweight fuselage elements for the A380 and outboard flaps for the new A350.
• And ADSE is a leading consultancy in the field of aircraft-design, performance-analysis and certification.
• On top of that, the Netherlands has a whole cluster of companies providing aircraft-maintenance, including the highly specialised repair and production of composites.

From the start, the true strength of Dutch aviation has lain in intensive partnership between business and research, encouraged by government. This enables us to combine commercial-insights with basic- and applied-research and launch new innovations faster. For instance Dutch aviation companies work with NLR, our national aerospace-research-centre, and two technical universities, in collaboration with Airbus, to develop the use of thermoplastic composites in aircraft hulls, wings and tails.

As a result, the Netherlands has the expertise and facilities needed to develop new aircraft. Besides NLR, I should mention DNW – German-Dutch Wind Tunnels – and Delft University of Technology, which has the largest aerospace faculty in Europe. Together they form one of the largest, if not the largest, independent research bodies in the field of aerospace.

Luckily, the Chinese and Dutch aircraft industries are by no means strangers. Fokker Elmo, has been active in China since 1997. The firm of NACO – Netherlands Airport Consultants – designed a new air terminal and a brand-new airport in Beijing. And the Netherlands and China work together on wind tunnel testing and aircraft certification.

The ambition of the Dutch aerospace industry, represented here today, is to expand that partnership. To leverage the Netherlands’ position as a complementary, first-tier country with an extensive aircraft integration-, research- and design-infrastructure. And of course that’s an ambition I strongly support.

That approach is already paying off. In recent years, businesses in this cluster have signed various memorandums of understanding and contracts in China. At present, preparations for new contracts, worth tens of millions of euro's, are underway. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s only the start.

China’s clear and ambitious goals for its growing aviation-industry are an excellent match with the Dutch aerospace industry’s dedication to innovation. I should also stress that our companies are not tied to any single Original Equipment Manufacturer like Airbus or Bombardier.

I very much hope that Sino-Dutch cooperation will be long and fruitful. Let’s work together to make the aircraft-industry of the future fit the aviation-industry of the future: safe, innovative and sustainable.

Thank you.