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China's homemade big plane will be launched into the market after 2016. At the beginning of November, a foreign company booked 25 ARJ21 regional airplanes, which was a good beginning of the China’s own airbus industry.
 
In the thirteenth "five-year-period" (2016-2020), China's homemade big airplanes will get the module certification and the manufacture license and come out in the market. During the China International Aviation and Aerospace Forum held on November 3 in Zhuhai, Guangdong, Miao Xu, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology of the PRC introduced the public the schedule of China’s research and development in big airplanes for the first time and gave out some news about the future strategy of the development of civilian airplanes in China.
 
In this April, Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) was founded. The main task of this corporation is to research and develop big commercial airplanes. After its foundation, COMAC devoted itself to the demonstration of technological plans and the research on the feasibility of big planes. On November 3, Miao Xu said that both the demonstration and research went on smoothly. According to the plan, in the eleventh "five-year-period" (2006-2010), the main tasks of China’s big plane project are the pre-project preparation, the solutions to key technologies and the concept design. In the twelfth "five-year-period" (2011-2015), China will begin the module design experiment and trial-manufacturing. In the thirteenth "five-year-period", China's homemade big airplanes will get the module certification and the manufacture license and come out in the market.
 
On November 3, the General Manager of COMAC Jin Zhuanglong said that his company was not only making a research on the feasibility of big planes but also communicating with relevant suppliers on the technological cooperation, hoping to confirm the suppliers of engine, airborne equipment and materials for the big planes.
 
According to Jin Zhuanglong, the mode of "main manufacturers to suppliers" has been adopted in China's big plane project. COMAC, as the general manufacturer, mainly concentrates on the key tasks of design integration, assembly manufacturing, marketing, customer service and airworthiness evidence. The marketization will be realized in the field of engine, airborne equipment and raw materials. The suppliers with more strength and more advanced technology will be chosen after bidding. So the suppliers, no matter domestic or foreign, have the equal opportunities to attend the competition.
 
However, the main manufacturers of the big plane project have been confirmed. The incorporated COMAC has Harbin Aircraft Industry Group Co., Ltd, Shaanxi Aircraft Industry Group Co., Ltd, Xi'an Aircraft Industry (Group) Company Ltd, Shenyang Aircraft Industry Group Co., Ltd and Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group Co., Ltd as its subsidiary companies. These five companies have become the main manufacturers of China's big plane project. These enterprises have several years' experience of the subcontract manufacturing of the parts of the big airplanes for Boeing and Airbus.
 
Miao Xu pointed out that China would further enlarge the scope of the subcontract manufacturing of the parts of big civilian airplanes. The subcontract manufacturing of the engine components and airborne equipment will be further developed. Miao also said that China is trying to build up a professional production line of the head, body and tail of the plane, the components of the engine and the composite materials. It is predicted that the total sum of the subcontract manufacturing of civilian planes in China may exceed 1 billion US dollars. In addition, China is bettering the assembly projects of A320 Airplane, ERJ145 Airplane, HC120 Helicopter and CA109 Helicopter which are based on the joint venture.
 
Besides the big plane project, another core product of COMAC – ARJ21 Regional Jet will make its maiden flight at the end of November. According to Miao Xu, the trial manufacturing of the prototype and main ground experiment of ARJ21 Regional Jet have already been finished. And the period of airworthiness evidence has already begun. According to the plan, ARJ21 Regional Jet will get the airworthiness certificate issued by relevant state authorities and come out in the market in 2009.
 
During the 7th China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition, GE from the USA booked 25 ARJ21 Airplanes. This was the first order form of ARJ21 from abroad, as well as the first order form made by GE in the regions outside Europe and the USA. By November 4, 208 ARJ21 Airplanes had been booked. In addition, COMAC started the research and development of lengthened and business model of the regional airplane to realize the serialization of ARJ21 Airplanes.
 
It is known that China is also concentrating on the many new planes, like Seagull300 Amphibian Light Plane, Nong5B Agricultural Airplane, Yun12F Multifunctional Airplane and so on. Some of them are predicted to appear in the market in 2010.
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