China celebrates maiden commercial flight of first locally built jet

Although ten years behind schedule, China has celebrated the maiden commercial flight of the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC) ARJ21 which flew 70 passengers from Chengdu to Shanghai in a two-hour twelve-minute flight. The Chengdu Airlines flight EU6679 was described as “an important milestone in the development of civil aviation in China” in a COMAC statement, adding “Chinese skies for the first time have welcomed a passenger jet developed by China.”
According to COMAC Chairman, Jin Zhuanglong, the company will continue to “optimise the design of the jet, push forward at a serialised and industrialised pace, and develop domestic and overseas markets,” continuing on to say “We will make efforts to build the ARJ21 as a new calling card for China’s high-end equipment manufacturing industry.”
China is keen to be seen as a global supplier of aircraft, though currently the 90-seat ARJ21 has not received certification from any other regulators so can only be used by airlines in China, or in countries where China’s certification process is recognized. In addition to the ARJ21 which is aiming for a share of the market dominated by Embraer and Bombardier, COMAC are also pushing forward with the development of the C919 158 to 174-seat narrow-body jet which aims to compete directly with the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320.
China has long suffered from a paucity of skilled aerospace design and engineering talent, and as a result, China and Russia have signed an agreement during Russian president Vladimir Putin’s June 25 visit to China to establish a joint venture (JV) to design and develop new wide-body aircraft. The agreement clarifies that venture will include the joint design, manufacture, marketing and after-sale support of any new aircraft.
Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC) chairman Jin Zhuanglong and Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) president Yury Slusar signed the agreement. UAC confirmed that the JV will be registered in China, while Slusar has indicated the new company will be formed before the end of 2016.