Fri, Dec 21, 2007
"Flying Phoenix" ARJ-21 Debuts In Flashy Ceremony
In a rollicking ceremony complete with laser light shows and
rousing music, China's first home-designed-and-built commercial
airliner made its formal entrance into the world Friday.
Taking a page from the PR playbooks of Boeing and Airbus, the
ARJ-21 -- dubbed the Xiangfeng, or "Flying Phoenix" -- was towed
into a Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Factory hangar in an
carefully-orchestrated rollout ceremony. The event was broadcast by
the state-run China Central Television network, reports the
Associated Press... but that and the official Xinhua News Agency
comprised the only media presence at the rollout.
The 90-seat ARJ-21 -- designed to compete with the likes of
Bombardier and Embraer in the hotly-contested regional jet market
-- is scheduled to make its first flight in March 2008. The
aircraft -- which bears more than a passing resemblance to a
Douglas DC-9, but sports modern avionics and GE Aviation turbofans
-- is the first in a planned series of larger airliners, intended
to be marketed worldwide.
"Today, China's aviation industry has turned over a new leaf,"
said Lin Zuoming, general manager of China Aviation Industry Corp.
I (AVIC I.) "A country's aviation industry is not complete unless
it is able to produce civilian aircraft."
AVIC-I expects as the ARJ-21 to dominate China's regional jet
market over the next 20 years, with as much as 60 percent of the
estimated 900-plane market. The company also hopes for worldwide
interest in the plane, and is working with the FAA to develop
certification standards.
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