Chengdu Airlines takes delivery of China’s ARJ21
CHINA’S first commercial regional aircraft, the ARJ21, was delivered yesterday.
The passenger plane, produced by the Shanghai-headquartered Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, was bought by Chengdu Airlines.
Xiangfeng (Flying Phoenix) is a 90-passenger capacity twin-engine jet, with a standard range of 2,220 kilometers. It is expected to ply busy routes such as Chengdu-Shanghai and Chengdu-Beijing.
COMAC has received more than 300 orders from 19 airlines, including three from the Republic of Congo.
The plane is China’s first regional jet to be manufactured according to international standards. Following its maiden flight in 2008, it was put through six years of tests before gaining airworthiness certificates from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, and the US Federal Aviation Agency.
The jet will also inform the development of China’s first large passenger aircraft, the C919. Following experience gained from developing the ARJ21, COMAC was able to complete the design, calculation and tests to produce the first C919 in seven years. The jet is expected to compete with the Airbus 320 and Boeing 737.
“The [airplane programs] show that China’s aviation industry is taking shape to compete with its Western counterparts,” said Luo Ronghuai, chief commander of the ARJ21 development project.
China is the world’s largest civil aviation market, with its 21 largest airports seeing annual throughput of more than 10 million passengers and a fleet of over 3,000 aircraft, dominated by Boeing and Airbus.
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