China's first jumbo jet to take off by 2020

By Lydia Chen  |   2008-11-3  |     ONLINE EDITION

CHINA'S self-developed jumbo jet is expected to compete with Boeing and Airbus models on the world market by 2020, a vice minister of industry and information said in Zhuhai today.

The design and production of the "super-sized" aircraft are expected to start from 2011 to 2015 before the Chinese-made planes are licensed to enter the market during the country’s 13th Five-Year Plan from 2016 to 2020, Miao Wei, the vice minister, said at a forum at the Zhuhai Air Show in Guangdong Province this morning.

China pledged to develop its own domestic aerospace industry in order to reduce its reliance on overseas suppliers. All facets of the process from design and production to sourcing materials and assembly will be done in China.

A super-sized aircraft is defined as a plane with more than 150 seats or with a payload of more than 100 tons. It includes military and civilian jets. Only six countries now have the capacity to manufacture such aircraft.

Research work on the ARJ21 plane, the country's first regional jet and a precursor to the jumbo jets, will be sped up as the plane is scheduled to enter service next year, Miao said.

Work on a 100-seat version of the ARJ21, a business-jet model and a freighter will start next year, he added.

He also revealed that Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd, the maker of the ARJ21, has already received 208 orders for the ARJ21.

The 208 includes a deal for 25 planes. The deal will be signed tomorrow with GE Commercial Aviation Services. It will be the company's first overseas deal, Zhang Qingwei, chairman of the Shanghai-based state-controlled firm, said at the air show today.

GE Commercial Aviation Services is GE's leasing unit and has a fleet of more than 1,775 owned and managed aircraft, the company said on its Website.