China's first commercial regional aircraft delivered

Dec 03, 2015 China’s first commercial regional aircraft, the ARJ21, was recently delivered to Chengdu Airlines

The passenger plane, produced by the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, is a 90-passenger capacity twin-engine jet with a standard range of 2,220 kilometers.

The aircraft, which has been nickname Xiangfeng or Flying Phoenix, is expected to ply busy routes such as Chengdu-Beijing and Chengdu-Shanghai.

The plane is China’s first regional jet to be manufactured according to international standards. After its maiden flight in 2008, it was put through six years of grueling tests before being awarded airworthiness certificates from the Civil Aviation Administration of China and U.S. Federal Aviation Agency.

COMAC has so far received more than 300 orders from 19 airlines, including three from the Republic of Congo.

Following the experience gained from developing the ARJ21, COMAC recently unveiled its plans to produce the first C919, which is expected to compete with Airbus 320 and Boeing 737.

He Peiwen, Chengdu Airlines deputy manager, revealed that the first jet will be put into operation in three months on seven domestic routes.