C919 commercial jet to have maiden flight in 2015
Staff Reporter 2013-08-06 15:03
A model of the C919 at a trade fair in Hong Kong on March 8, 2011. (Photo/Xinhua)
The C919, the commercial jet designed by Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China based in Shanghai, will see its first flight in 2015 as Zhang Yanzhong, the chairman of the State Council's Advisory Committee on Large Airplane Projects has told the state-run China News Service.
With the capacity to carry up to 174 passengers, the C919 is the second commercial aircraft designed and built in China after the now defunct Y-10. Compared to its two main competitors, the Airbus 320 and Boeing 737, Zhang said the C919 will provide a more comfortable, economical, environmentally friendlier and safer service to passengers.
About 95% of the aircraft's components are finished and the construction of the first aircraft will be completed by 2014. Zhang said a fully laden C919 has a range of 4,075 kilometers at a cruising speed of 834 kilometres and an operation ceiling of 12,100 metres. Zhang said the C919 uses similar avionic, illumination, air quality monitoring and electronic equipment control and management integrated systems as the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320.
Three models of the aircraft, the C919-Mixed, C919-All ECO and C919-High Density, will be put into service by 2015, Zhang said, adding that Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China has signed contracts to supply 380 C919s to domestic and international airlines. After the C919 enters service, it will make Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China the world's third-largest producer of passenger aircraft after Boeing and Airbus, Zhang said.
