Large plane to fly by 2020

By Zhao Huanxin (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-03-13 07:04

China is expected to begin flying large, homegrown commercial aircraft by 2020, with cargo flights expected to take off slightly ahead of passenger ones, industrial insiders said yesterday.

"We envision our own planes being in the air within the next 10 to 15 years," national lawmaker and aviation expert Liu Daxiang told China Daily.

Transport planes will be introduced first, as they are easier to design and develop, he said on the sideline of the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC).

Liu, a member of the top legislature's Standing Committee, is a key advocate of the large plane project, which he dubbed a "symbol of an innovative country".

Liu has made motions at each of the past three annual NPC sessions, urging the government to start research and development of large aircraft to ensure the country meets the surging demand for air travel with its own planes.

A China Aviation Industry Corp I (AVIC I) think-tank earlier estimated that the country would need 2,230 large airliners by 2025, which is considerably less than Boeing's market forecast of 3,900 by the same year.

Thanks in part to Liu's effort, the government last year approved the large plane project, but fell short of specifying how the program would be implemented.

Echoing the lawmaker, Liu Gaozhuo, former president of the AVIC I, said he believed large transport aircraft for both civilian and military use should be developed in China.

"There are already mounting demands for large transport aircraft," he said.

"And planes for freight and passengers share at least 70 percent of the same components."

Talk of such large planes taking to the sky within the next decade is stirring up heated discussions on the ground, especially among those attending the current annual meetings of the NPC and the country's top political advisory body.

Gao Zhenghong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, yesterday said she had proposed the government make Shaanxi Province the base for the design, assembly and testing of both transport and passenger aircraft.

The Northwest China province has accumulated "years of expertise and experience" in designing, developing and test-flying planes, she said, and choosing Shaanxi as the large plane R&D centre would also give a boost to the country's massive "western development" program.

Qin Yuqin, another political advisor from Sichuan, said the Southwest China province was better positioned to become the design and manufacturing base for large aircraft.

The country's latest model of fighter jet, the Jian-10, was made in Chengdu, the provincial capital, he said.

Liu Daxiang said that the government had not yet decided on the locations for the bases for design or production.

He said both the AVIC I and AVIC II, the country's major aircraft manufacturers, would join forces to make large planes with help from local aviation businesses and institutions.

The engines for the large planes would be developed by the AVIC I, he said.

(China Daily 03/13/2007 page5)