China's large-plane project set for takeoff

BEIJING - Hundreds of large planes fly in and out of Chinese airports daily but none of them sports a made-in-China label. However, the picture will change in 10-15 years, when locally developed large aircraft offer more choice to Chinese carriers, which currently use only Boeing and Airbus.

"The large-plane project is being carefully studied," said Huang Qiang, secretary general of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. "We estimate that within two or three five-year-plan periods, our large planes will come into use."

It is the first time officials have specified a timetable for a project, which Huang said has led to widespread interest among the public and will be a cause for concern for foreign aircraft makers.

In China, key projects are usually part of national five-year plans - developing large planes was listed as a priority project in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), commission officials said earlier.

There have been mounting calls from the public for early implementation of the large-plane project, a program that "has also kept Boeing and Airbus on their toes", Huang told a press conference on the sidelines of the commission's annual work conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

Used for both military and civilian purposes, large aircraft have a load capacity of at least 100 tons; a passenger carrier of that size usually has 200 seats, experts said.

Huang said the large-aircraft project can build on the expertise and experience of the aviation industry, particularly of the ARJ21, China's Advanced Regional Jet, the manufacture of which began in December 2003.

The China Aviation Industry Corp I (AVIC I) has clinched 71 orders for ARJ21 jets, even though the regional plane will have test flights only next year, according to Huang.

The reasons for its success are that the company offers medium-capacity jets of the best quality at a competitive price, which best suits Chinese market needs, according to Liu Gaozhuo, former AVIC I president, who said he believes the same will be true for China's large aircraft.


http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Busi ... 1Cb02.html

Lookout world!

Sheez, is there anything the Chinese don't build?

A quality product?

Yup. But that's what everyone used to say about Japan 30 years ago.

As long as they use standard western components I think they'll be fine. I don't think anyone outside of China will be interested any time soon, but the Chinese market is big enough to make this a worthwhile venture even if they're the only ones who use them.

China has tried a few times to build its large passenger plane. The first time was during the late 60's and after many false starts, they managed to build a 4-engine passenger jet, Y-10. The Y-10 looks very similar to B-707. It's engines were the JT-3 taken directly from CAAC inventory supporting its 707 fleet. The Y-10 went as far testing flight from Shanghai to Lhasa in Tibet. Then China opened up to all the western goodies and start buying Boeing, MD and Airbus products like crazy; and Y-10 was left sitting in a lonely airport in Shanghai.

The 2nd attempt was the joint venture with MD to build MD-80 with kits sent from Long Beach. At the end, most of the MD-80's in Chinese airline fleet were built locally. Some MD-80's even found their way back to the US. I believe TW bought some; so it's possible they are still flying in AA color.

A further attempt was made to build MD-90 locally. This project was doomed along with MD. Only 20 MD-90 were built from kits sent from Long Beach. They are now serving in various Chinese airlines.

So this is yet another attempt.