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ARJ21 plane’s delivery date delayed again
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The delivery date of China’s long-delayed first commercial jet airliner has been pushed back again, the manufacturer said yesterday, the latest setback for China’s ambitions to challenge market leaders Boeing and Airbus.
Originally promised for 2007, the plane was most recently expected late this year, but Comac Chairman Jin Zhuanglong said it will now be ready in mid-2014.
“The development will not always go smoothly, and the program cannot be accomplished in one stroke,” Jin was quoted as saying in comments released by the company.
Jin blamed delays in the ARJ21 program on China’s inexperience in designing, building and certifying commercial jetliners. But he said the program is still on track for delivery next year to launch customer Chengdu Airlines, a small Chinese regional carrier that has ordered 30 planes.
Delays in the 90-seat ARJ21 could have knock-on effects for the development of the bigger and more ambitious C919, intended to compete with Boeing’s 737 and the Airbus A320. The US Federal Aviation Agency will not issue crucial US certification for the larger plane until the ARJ21 is certified.
China launched the ARJ21 project in 2002 as rising household incomes sparked a massive growth of the domestic airline industry that continues to this day. State-owned Comac was formed to build the aircraft in Shanghai and foreign contractors agreed to provide avionics and other crucial systems.
Jin said four prototypes have made 2,000 flights. Two customer aircraft are in final assembly and another is under construction, he said.
Comac already has about 240 firm orders and options for the ARJ21, mostly from domestic carriers, but also from GE Capital Aviation Services and Lao Airlines. It has about 380 orders for the 174-seat C919.
Equipment maker Honeywell has contracts with both planes, and its Asia-Pacific president for aerospace, Briand Greer, said delays are to be expected given the complexity of bringing together global suppliers and given China’s newness to the Western certification process.
“It’s a very, very complex thing to do. From my perspective, working with Comac isn’t any more difficult than working with the other guys,” Greer said in a recent interview.
In some ways, working with Comac is better than with established companies such as Airbus and Boeing because the Chinese company has greater appreciation for suggested improvements, Greer said.
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