China’s
homegrown regional jet made its first commercial flight Tuesday,
operator Chengdu Airlines said, after years of delays raised questions
about the country’s ambitious plans for domestically-produced planes.
Chengdu Airlines flew the ARJ21 from its
eponymous home base, the capital of the southwestern province of
Sichuan, to the commercial hub Shanghai carrying 70 passengers.
More than half were paying customers who were aware they were flying in a new plane, an airline spokesman told AFP.
The ARJ21 — which stands for Advanced
Regional Jet for the 21st Century — will ferry flyers on the
Chengdu-Shanghai route three times a week, he added.
The inaugural flight was the culmination
of a 14-year programme to make China a commercial aircraft manufacturer
capable of competing with dominant foreign players Boeing and Airbus.
But the aircraft still lacks the crucial
US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification that would allow
it to fly in US skies, and most manufacturers do not yet view the COMAC
plane as a competitive threat.
Credit: Punch
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