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BEIJING, April 12-- At the Beijing Capital International Airport, maintenance workers were busy conducting a thorough check on the tires, engines and body of an Air France airplane, before giving it a go-ahead for a flight to Paris two hours later. They are employees of Beijing Line Maintenance International, China's first foreign-controlled joint venture in aircraft maintenance, which was launched by Air France Industries KLM Engineering and Maintenance and Beijing General Aviation Co Ltd (BGAC) in 2017. "The key technology, personnel and management of the joint venture all come from the European side," said Li Wei, vice general-manager of the joint venture. "A foreign-controlled joint venture has given full play to foreign expertise in management and technology." Air France-KLM, a major global air transport player, entered the Chinese market after establishing a repair workshop in the 1990s. But over the years, it has struggled to find a local partner to expand its business in the country, partly due to China's restrictions on foreign capital. After the central government allowed Beijing to pilot policies of opening the service industry wider in 2017, Air France-KLM jumped on the opportunity and partnered with BGAC to found the joint venture two years later. Last year, the joint venture provided 1,400 maintenance services for four foreign airliners, compared with more than 600 in 2017. "We enjoy the same policy on taxes and talent recruitment as domestic firms, which helped the growth of our business," Li said. "This year, we plan to start business in the new airport in Daxing district." | 
