Civil aviation to focus on big planes
By Shangguan Zhoudong (chinadaily.com.cn)Updated: 2007-06-28 16:58 China will improve the research and development capabilities of the civil aviation sector and put stress on big planes and feeder planes, the Oriental Morning Post reported today.
During the 11th Five-Year Program (2006-10), the nation's civil aviation sector will aim for progress in big planes, new feeder planes, new helicopters, general-purpose planes, civil aero engines and airborne equipment, according to the Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense.
China will also speed up the industrialization of the civil aviation sector and quadruple the sales revenue by the end of 2010, focus on sales of civil planes, expand subcontracting for production of spare-parts and strive to develop the aviation maintenance industry.
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China's civil aviation sector developed quickly. Data from the commission
shows that the final assembly of China's first homemade commercial jet plane,
the ARJ21, had begun in March this year, and the turbofan regional aircraft is
expected to come off the production line at the end of this year.
So far,
the China Aviation Industry Corporation I, the manufacturer, has received 71
orders for the jet. The orders are from domestic carriers including Shanghai Airlines, Shandong Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.
Up to now, China has received 92 orders for domestically manufactured Xinzhou-60 passenger planes, which are manufacture red by Xi'an Aircraft Industry Company. Data shows that 18 units have been delivered.
China sold more than 100 Yun-12 general-purpose planes worldwide, and also
received 30 orders for the Eaglet-500 plane, China's first fully proprietary
plane, and 12 units have been delivered.
China has also received 66
orders for the ERJ145, a plane jointly produced by the China Aviation Industry Corporation II and Brazilian aircraft
manufacturer Embraer. Twelve units have been delivered to
customers.
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