(Yicai Global) Dec. 27 -- Broetje-Automation, a German subsidiary under state-owned Shanghai Electric Group, has won the rights to tool and assemble flaps for the wings of the China-designed C919 plane.

Aviation Industry Corp. of China, one of the world's leading aerospace firms, picked Broetje to improve the processing and efficiency of the C919's flaps using advanced equipment and tooling, the Shanghai Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said yesterday, without disclosing further details. The deal is Broetje's first in China since Shanghai Electric took over in 2016.

The C919 is a large passenger aircraft developed independently by the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, or COMAC, which AVIC holds shares in. It is still undergoing flight tests but already has over a thousand orders on the books, with the first commercial plane set to hit the skies in 2021.

Working on the jet will be Shanghai Electric's first aircraft manufacturing order and should help localize Broetje in China while also laying the foundation for SE to make further strides into the aviation industry, the Shanghai SASAC added.

Shanghai Electric paid EUR200 million (USD228 million) to acquire Broetje, which has around 850 employees and supplies mechanical equipment used for automated riveting and the assembly of large aircraft components, such as fuselages, wings and cockpits.

Editor: James Boynton