Aviation Industry Corp of China names new chairman

Aviation Industry Corp of China, the country's dominant aircraft maker, names a new chairman after a yearlong absence of top executive.

The State-owned conglomerate announced on Wednesday afternoon that Zhou Xinmin, 54 and a native of Jiangxi province, was named its chairman and Party chief at a meeting at the company's Beijing headquarters earlier in the day.

His appointment was announced by an official from the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the company said in a brief statement without elaborating.

Before this new appointment, Zhou was vice-chairman and general manager of Commercial Aircraft Corp of China in Shanghai, manufacturer of the nation's C919 jetliner.

Born in November 1969, Zhou graduated from Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi'an in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in engineering and then started his career as an engineer at a helicopter factory in Jingdezhen of Jiangxi province, which is now called AVIC Changhe Aircraft Industry.

He moved up through the ranks at the factory and eventually became its chairman and Party chief in 2016.

In 2018, Zhou was transferred to Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, which was established in 2008 to develop the country's own jetliners and took up the post of deputy general manager.

He was promoted to the company's vice-chairman and general manager in February 2023.

Zhou's predecessor at AVIC, Tan Ruisong, remained in the posts of chairman and Party chief for nearly five years and was relieved of his job in March last year.