Chinese regional jets to enter US market

11-05-2008
ZHUHAI, Guangdong, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- China signed its biggest aircraft export deal, in terms of the number of jets and contract value, on Tuesday at the 7th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition here.

The Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC) will sell 25 ARJ21-700 regional jets to GE Commercial Aviation Services of the United States.
The deal is valued at 5 billion yuan (733 million U.S. dollars). The first jet will be delivered in 2013, with one per month thereafter.

COMAC Chairman Zhang Qingwei told Xinhua this was the first time Chinese-developed and manufactured regional jets have entered Western airline markets.

"This is an important opportunity. We are exploring China's own way of building jumbo planes," said Zhang.

Roger N. Seager, vice president of the GE Commercial Aviation Services, said his company was confident in the ARJ21 aircraft, China's aviation market and the Chinese economy at large.

"In the global economic downturn, financing is a main difficulty of all companies. Our investment in the ARJ21 shows our confidence in the manufacturer and the Chinese market," Seager told Xinhua.

Seager said more clients have shown an interest in the ARJ21. "Some customers of GE Aviation have already expressed interest. I can't tell you the names but there are Chinese customers, and European and American customers as well."

Embraer of Brazil, a major regional jet plane manufacturer on the international market, hailed the success of its Chinese competitor. A company official said the ARJ21 deal showed the broad prospects of Chinese regional jets.

The ARJ21 (Advanced Regional Jet for the 21st Century) was developed independently by China. It has 78 to 90 seats and a standard full-passenger flight can go 2,225 kilometers. A total of206 ARJ21-700s have been ordered so far.

The regional jet will make its maiden flight in Shanghai this month.

However, regional jets are not the only thing on the agenda for COMAC, which is working to build China's own jumbo planes.

"We have more than 300 engineers and experts working in Shanghai on jumbo designs. The fundamental parameters and blueprint have been finalized," said Zhang Qingwei.

The production of the ARJ21 aircraft has provided experience for the company's research and production staff, which would be helpful for the jumbo plane project. The company also learned morea bout their foreign counterparts during the process of developing the ARJ21, he added.

Jumbo passenger planes refer to those with a take-off weight of more than 100 tons, or with more than 150 seats.

Currently, only the United States, Russia, France, Germany, Britain and Spain have the capability to build jumbo aircraft, with Boeing and Airbus taking the lion's share of sales on international markets.

China would not rule out the possibility of cooperating with Boeing and Airbus on its jumbo plane project, according to Zhang.

The production of jumbo aircraft is strategically significant for the country, as it would lift the country's competence on the global markets as a slew of technical breakthroughs, especially in engines, materials and electronic equipment, were to be made, according to observers.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• China
• US
• regional
• aviation
• market

[amtrakxing]

yes, this news is misleading at best. And GE did not place 25 orders, or 50 orders as some chinese news suggest. GE placed 5 orders, 20 options, and another 25 purchase rights. Chinese TV needs to be more professional to explain what these really mean, instead of fooling Chinese domestic audience that China just sold 50 jets to the US.

[cctvupload]

Thanks for the information, we appreciate it.

[dimamo1983]

Lol, way to misslead people... The GE was pretty much required to place the order due to the amount of content they supply for the jet. There is no way it will make it to the US Market. It will just be leased in China and maybe throughout Asia...

[cctvupload]

Thanks for the information.

[flurto420]

@Neanderthalmanny and American stole every thing they have from Germans after world war 2 lol

[unatics]

nice. selling back md90 to US. hahaha.

[Dragonmantis36]

@ollonsvin you sound like a inferior dumb ass.

[Anonymous52550]

@flurto420 The Russians were actually there first. The US, France, and British could only salvage what the Russians hadn't already taken or what the Germans didn't have time to destroy.

[ollonsvin]

Yet a nother peace of chinese shit that breaks after 5 min,

[455200930]

Now look for Neanderthalmanny's comment

[JAVEDRUHI]

Even planes are made, the dominance of west is for sure gone there is no doubt in it. Name a product which west makes which China cannot these days????

[tubernation1]

@Shmaaaaa As they say in Chinese safety circles, "So?"

[Shmaaaaa]

One thing that bugs me about how close the rear emergency exit is to the engines. I mean, they could be on fire or still be spinning while the evacutation and potentially hurt the passengers.

[Flyermac]

@aviationnutsv It is the 717 project itself. Of course, Boeing authorized COMAC to reproduce the aircraft based on the former MD-95 project instead of keeping the 717 assembly line open generating more losses than profits. I have no doubt that Boeing has a share in the building of that aircraft.

[Flyermac]

@amtrakxing My friend, almost the same happens here in Brazil. Both are communist countries in different ways. Misinformation is an obligation in Brazil.