(ECNS) - Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC) aims to receive an airworthiness certificate for the C919, China's first home-built narrow-body passenger jet, in 2021, said Wu Guanghui, chief designer for the C919 program.
During a meeting in Suzhou City of Jiangsu Province, the academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering outlined three stages in China’s development of commercial aircraft, starting with the regional jetliner ARJ 21 that has 78 to 90 seats and a flight range of 2,225 to 3,700 kilometers.
The ARJ21 regional jetliner entered mass production and commercial flight operations in 2008. Thirteen ARJ21 aircraft have been delivered, used on 26 routes to transport 400,000 passengers to date.
For the second stage, the narrow-body C919 aircraft will be able to carry 156 to 168 passengers and have a flight range of 4,075 to 5,555 kilometres.
On Aug 1, the fourth C919 prototype completed its maiden test flight. Four C919 jets are now undergoing more intense test flights at various airports in China. To date, COMAC has received 815 orders for the C919 from 28 customers worldwide.
The China-Russia wide-body aircraft development project, the CR929, has completed joint concept design and is looking for suppliers as it moves into the preliminary design stage, according to Wu.
