Release Date: 26-Jul-2013
In the global market, China is the second largest national air travel market and also the fastest growing. To meet the demand of the market, China buys around 200 new passenger jets every year and this forms more than a tenth of the world’s total demand. While this indicates a huge domestic market, the country is keen to develop and promote its local manufacturers of aircrafts.
The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd. (COMAC)—a state-owned company was formed in 2008 to developing the passenger jet industry. There are two passenger jet aircrafts being developed by COMAC. One of them is the ARJ-21, a medium-sized regional jet that can seat between 90 and 105 passengers. This is designed for short-haul flights of less than three hours and was launched in 2002. The ARJ-21 is primarily intended to meet China’s local demand for internal air transport. The country is expected to need up to 1,000 such regional jets over the next 20 years and there are more than 300 orders for the plane. The company plans to build over 850 of these aircrafts at a rate of about 30 per year, over the next two decades.
The second Chinese airliner is the C919, a narrow-body jet that was initiated in 2008. It is under production and can seat 150 to 200 passengers, almost the equivalent of the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320. The aircraft has totted up an order list of about 400 by now and the first flight of the C919 are planned in 2014, with deliveries to follow by 2016.
Besides these, there are other passenger jets that are being planned, namely the 300-seater C929 wide bodied aircraft and the 400-seater C939 wide bodied one.
For More Information Visit: China Aviation Industry Analysis