Shanghai: China’s first huge homemade passenger aircraft,C919, was rolled out of the final assembly line in Shanghai today morning.
This narrow-body plane is designed to have 168 seats and a standard flight range of 4,075 km was developed by Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC).
C919 aircraft will make its maiden flight next year and then begin test flights for about three years before putting this into commercial zone. COMAC said developed by Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC).
“The roll out of the first C919 aircraft marks a significant milestone in the development of China’s first indigenous aircraft,” COMAC chairman Jin Zhuanglong told an audience of government and industry officials.
A small truck towed the 30-meter long plane, decorated with an enormous Chinese flag into sunlight as project engineers and workers marched alongside, an AFP journalist saw.The China Daily newspaper has reported it could even be put back to 2017.
Spending on the C919 has not been revealed. Last month, the Export-Import Bank of China said it would provide state-owned COMAC with $7.9 billion in financing for its aircraft projects.
COMAC has already developed a smaller regional jet, the ARJ, in a project which is years behind schedule.
The Chinese company also plans a wide body plane, the C929, in cooperation with Russia’s United Aircraft Corp., and speculation is mounting China will create a new aero-engine entity to try to produce the powerful jets needed for large civil aircraft.
