Said He Would "Push" For U.S. Safety Approval

The topic of China's new ARJ21 regional jet was discussed during President Barack Obama's summit with Chinese leaders on Tuesday. China has reportedly been frustrated with U.S. policy restricting trade of certain technologies, and Obama pledged he would advocate greater technical cooperation with the Chinese. He also said he would push for eventual safety approval of the ARJ21 commuter jet.

But the FAA has been cool to the certification of the Chinese jet, and that country's own safety regulators are reportedly a year or more away from certifying the aircraft.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the FAA has forged some good ties with the Chinese over safety concerns, data sharing, and training programs. But FAA officials recently pulled back from assisting The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) with the development of the aircraft because they were concerned about a conflict of interest when it came to eventual safety certification. About half the ARJ21's part are manufactured in the U.S. FAA officials declined to comment on how the President's announcement might affect the FAA's approach to certifying the jet in the future.

Western interest in the ARJ21 has been limited. GE said recently that it planned to buy some of the jets, but it intended to lease them all back to companies in China. COMAC is also developing a 160 seat commercial jet that would compete directly with existing products from both Boeing and Airbus.

FMI: www.faa.gov