Claims Rugged Little Jet Cheaper, More Versatile Than Rivals

The ARJ21 (Advanced Regional Jet for the 21st Century), debuted at the Zhunai Air Show, is China's entry into the small commercial jet market -- one that the manufacturer says is cheaper to build, cheaper to fly and rugged enough for China's widely varied geography.

That's what the brochure says, anyway. The People's Daily put it this way:

The biggest merits of the aircraft... are invisible:

• Outstanding adaptability to plateau conditions and high temperature to ensure full-capacity landing and take-off in most airports of western China
• The biggest compatibility possible to 150-seat trunk line aircraft to reduce training and operation costs for air companies
• Four models (standard, extended, cargo and business) for customers' choice
• Full-range cost control (8-10 percent lower in operation costs than its rivals) with world-class performance which makes profits for airlines possible after ticket discounts.

ARJ21's developer, China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I) hopes this one-solution-fits-all aircraft can meet the needs of China's entire domestic aviation market.

At the Zhunai Air Show late last year, AVIC I signed a letter of understanding with Canada's CAE for development of an ARJ21 simulator. Already, one Chinese airline, Xiamen, has ordered six of the regional jets. In all, Chinese airlines have ordered 35 ARJ21s.

The People's Daily reports 90-percent of the initial design work on the 70- to 90-passenger turbofan aircraft was completed last month. Parts production is reportedly now underway.

Earlier this week, ANN reported China had slapped a moratorium on some commercial aircraft deliveries this year. While a spokeswoman for the country's Civil Aviation Authority went to great lengths to clarify that, the People's Daily offers a bit more insight on the turmoil now facing the country's civil fleet:

China's regional market has been held back by the manufacture of feeder aircraft. Airlines are often weighed down by high purchasing and operation costs of European or Brazilian-made regional jets, which, moreover, usually can not fly in full capacity due to ill adjustment to plateau conditions of western China, the country's main feeder aviation market.

The moratorium is a signal that China wants to jump start its own civil fleet production capabilities. Not a bad idea for a market which, by some domestic estimates, will need some 1,400 new aircraft to grow over the next decade.

But where China seems determined to produce its own aircraft (see below), that could be wretched news for the likes of Empresa, Bombardier, Airbus and Boeing. By Western estimates, China will need at least 2,300 new aircraft over the next decade -- and if China makes them, those Western companies won't be selling their own wares into a hot new market.

FMI: www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/contractor/mark0025.htm