China To Produce Jumbo Sized Jets By 2020

[Ryan Ruck]

China To Produce Jumbo Sized Jets By 2020

Chinese State media announced this week that the country's aviation industry is working at producing its own large aircraft by the year 2020. According to the Xinhua news agency, the blueprint for the large aircraft project will be completed by 2010.

According to State aviation authorities the aircraft being developed would have a capacity to carry more than 100 tons and would have military as well as civilian cargo and passenger versions.

The country is currently in the midst of a major expansion of its air network, and analysts say that it is in China's interest to ensure that the bulk of the spending in this sector stays at home. According to industry observers, the country is expected to spend hundreds of billions of dollars by 2025 in the purchase of about 2,230 planes.

It is currently carrying out a five-year plan that will see the purchase of 500 jets and the construction of 48 airports. The Chinese market is estimated to grow to be the world's second largest after the US by 2030. According to trade figures, passenger numbers have risen by 105% to 138 million a year since 2000. The combined fleet of the country's air companies has also risen to 863 planes from 527.

The production of large aircraft would put China into an exclusive club along with the US, Russia and four other European countries. Boeing and Airbus currently dominate the industry. Airbus signed an agreement last year to produce its mid-size A320 in China.

Both companies have increasingly sourced aircraft components from Chinese state-owned companies and this has by now provided them with the technological foundation to design and produce large aircraft.

According to State authorities, the country was also developing a small regional jet, the ARJ-21, which was expected to begin commercial operation by 2009.

Along with the large aircraft project, China's new five-year economic planning programme also includes a moon landing by 2012.

[Ryan Ruck]

China Establishes Company To Make Its Own Jumbo Jets

China has established a homegrown company to make passenger jumbo jets, state media reported Sunday -- a step forward in the country's quest to become less dependent on Boeing and Airbus.

China Commercial Aircraft Co. was established in Shanghai with registered capital of 19 billion yuan $2.7 billion, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

It said the central government and the Shanghai government are among the major shareholders, as are China's two main aircraft manufacturing and servicing companies, China Aviation Industry Corp. I and China Aviation Industry Corp. II, which were split off from state-owned China Aviation Industry Corp. in 1999.

Europe's Airbus has forecast that China's domestic market will increase fivefold by 2026. Airbus and Chicago-based rival Boeing dominate the market for commercial airplanes carrying 100 or more people.

Xinhua said Commercial Aircraft Co. will be able to make planes with more than 150 seats.

General manager Jin Zhuanglong said in a Xinhua interview that it was too early to say when a Chinese-developed jumbo jet would be taking off, as it would take a long time to develop homegrown talent and do research.

"According to the development history of Airbus and Boeing, the development and success of civil planes cannot be realized by relying on one or two generations," he said.

[Ryan Ruck]

China's First Big Passenger Plane Takes Off For Maiden Flight

May 5, 2017



China's first large domestically made passenger aircraft has completed its maiden flight, mounting a major challenge to Boeing and Airbus.

After about 90 minutes in the air the plane landed safely back at Pudong airport in Shanghai.

The plane is a key symbol of Beijing's soaring ambitions to enter the global aviation market.

Made by state-owned firm Comac, it has been in planning since 2008 but the flight was repeatedly pushed back.

For Friday's maiden flight, the plane carried only its skeleton crew of five pilots and engineers and took off in front of a crowd of thousands of dignitaries, aviation workers and enthusiasts.

Ahead of the flight, state television said the plane would fly at an altitude of only 3,000m (9,800 feet), some 7,000m lower than a regular trip, and reach a speed of around 300km/h (186mph).

The C919 is designed to be a direct competitor to Boeing's 737 and the Airbus A320.

In an interview carried out in March but released on Chinese television shortly before the launch, test pilot Cai Jun said he had full confidence in the plane.

"A pilot knows clearly the condition of a plane. He knows very well whether it will work. So I'm not afraid at all, but focusing more on whether the plane is in its best shape now," he said.

He also described halting an earlier taxiing test in late 2016 because of a problem with the brakes.

"It's just like driving a car. I put the brakes on, and the plane started to shake," he said.

He said he had had to argue with the plane's engineers to help refine the design.

"For the designers, the plane is their baby, which they believe is perfect. But our task is to tell them that their baby is not perfect, it has strengths and weaknesses, and they have to make improvements," the pilot said.

The plane still relies on a wide array of imported technology though, it is for instance powered by engines from French-US supplier CFM International.

Orders have already been placed for more than 500 of the planes, with commitments from 23 customers, say officials, mainly Chinese airlines. The main customer is China Eastern Airlines.



Europe's aviation safety regulator has started the certification process for the C919 - a crucial step for the aircraft to be successful on the international market.

China has had ambitions to build its own civil aircraft industry since the 1970s, when leader Mao Zedong's wife, Jiang Qing, personally backed a project.

But the Y-10, built in the late 1970s, was impractical due to its heavy weight and only three of the aircraft were ever made.

It's estimated that the global aviation market will be worth $2tn (£1.55tn) over the next 20 years.