China’s homegrown jet in business
Print Edition
THE first Chinese-made regional passenger jet landed at Shanghai’s Hongqiao airport yesterday on its inaugural flight from the southwestern city of Chengdu.
Passengers on board included Li Jian, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
The ARJ21-700 — Chengdu Airlines flight EU6679 — took off at 9:25am from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport and landed at Hongqiao at 11:37am.
The twin-engine, 90-seat plane set off on its return journey at 1:26pm, landing around 4pm to complete its first day in service.
The jet will fly between Hongqiao and Chengdu every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, said Zhang Fang, a deputy general manager with the airline and captain for yesterday’s flight. A single ticket costs 1,060 yuan (US$160), according to Ctrip.com’s website.
“We chose Shanghai as the first destination because of the strong maintenance capability for the plane in the city,” Zhang said.
The ARJ21s are assembled at the Shanghai Aircraft Design and Research Institute.
The Chengdu carrier has another 29 ARJ21s on order and plans to take delivery of its second in August. It will also use the plane between Chengdu and Shenzhen in south China’s Guangdong Province, Changsha in the central Hunan Province as well as western and northwestern cities, Zhang said.
Before handover, the ARJ21 had undergone more than 5,000 hours of test flights and the airline had completed another 100 hours before the maiden flight, said Shuai Zhiyong, a deputy general manager with the airline.
“After the ARJ21 has gathered enough safe and efficient flying hours with domestic airlines, it will be widely promoted to overseas carriers,” said Wu Xingshi, the jet’s former chief designer.
Other buyers of the ARJ21 are Shandong Airlines, Hebei Airlines and the leasing unit of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
Airlines in Laos, Myanmar and the Republic of Congo have also ordered jets.
“The aircraft was quite stable even during turbulence,” said Hu Shuangqian, a worker who took part in the assembly of the ARJ21 and who was one of its first passengers yesterday.
The 56-year-old has been in the aircraft business for over 30 years and his work on the ARJ21 focused on its landing gear and wings.
“I feel proud and excited to be invited to take the plane that I built,” he said at Hongqiao.
China began development of the ARJ21 in 2002. Shanghai-based Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, which developed the plane, estimates it could take up to 60 percent of the domestic market for mid-size regional aircraft in the next 20 years, competing with Canada’s Bombardier and Brazil’s Embraer.
The company is also developing a 168-seat, C919 narrow-body passenger aircraft due to make its maiden flight next year.
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