8 years later than initially anticipated, COMAC delivers first ARJ21 to Chengdu Air

A major milestone was reached in Chinese commercial aviation history with the delivery of COMAC’s first ATJ21 to Chinese Airline Chengdu Air. The project, which started back in 2002, finally came to fruition after many setbacks, caused mainly by a lack of aerospace design and engineering resources, together with a paucity of Chinese companies able to push forward the production. This is China’s first locally built regional jet to go into service.
The aircraft, which is designed to seat 78 passengers in a dual-class configuration and 90 passengers in a full economy class configuration, is intended to challenge the narrow-body sector of the market currently occupied by Embraer and Bombardier. Interest has been strong from the domestic market with the majority of its 342 advanced orders for the aircraft coming from Chinese airlines, with an order of 5 with an option for 20 coming from the US financing and leasing company, GECAS.
The launch of the ARJ21 has been described by COMAC as a big breakthrough in their efforts to develop domestic jet aircraft design and manufacturing capabilities, though currently it only has certification to fly domestically, having received its Type Certification under Chapter 25 of the Chinese civil aviation regulations from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), on December 30, 2014. It will not be until it receives certification from the FAA that the aircrafts true viability against its competitors can be truly judged.