Chinese Aviation Industry

ARJ-21 delivery timeline

Since production certification in June 2017

All 8 to Chengdu airlines

3rd in 10/2017
4th in 12/2017
5th in 5/2018
6th in 08/2018
7th in 9/2018
8th in 10/2018

so overall 2 in 2017
and 6 so far in 2018

Genghis Khan airline due to get one before end of this year

Not exactly break neck speed

Going from 2 per year to 8 or 9 per year is not so bad Next year they should improve on it say 2 per month

Interesting

15 by end of this year bit ambitious isnt it?

Also redesign of flight deck at 15th aircraft?

Comac C919 Stumbles on FAA Flight Deck Standards

Despite 10 years of development and a wealth of support from foreign firms, China’s efforts to gain entry into western markets with an indigenous airliner continue to progress slowly as Comac struggles to bring its ambitious C919 project in line with U.S. Federal Aviation Administration requirements.

According to a source working closely with Comac who spoke with AIN on condition of anonymity, engineers have begun re-evaluating the C919’s flight-deck design to satisfy Part 25.1302 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR).

"Section 1302 is quite strict on human factors and necessary for FAA certification, but it’s not required by the CAAC,’’ he told AIN. ”So now there is a conflict between whether they have to meet 1302 requirements or not. If Comac wants to sell aircraft outside of China...there is always the constant debate of how much of the requirements they need to comply with coupled with how many design changes are necessary and how much money needs to be spent.’’

Comac’s challenges in meeting the certification procedures required to enable sale in the U.S. reflect a larger problem plaguing the aerospace manufacturer, namely technical know-how. While foreign experts in China transfer manufacturing knowledge and R&D capabilities, communication problems, misinterpretation of FAA requirements, and limited local skills have significantly delayed progress.

The challenges have become evident as the C919 continues to undergo further envelope expansion testing at its Shanghai facility and the team there encounters repeated setbacks due to disruptions in design changes and a shortage of local expertise.

"As always, they’re learning, which means it’s going to take longer,’’ said the source. “It’s not like you are working with Airbus or Boeing who can go through this process within an 18-month time span. You need to account for the learning curve.’’

While Comac slowly moves towards improving its overall technological capabilities, repeated delays and reliance on foreign assistance will remain for some time, raising doubts that the Chinese can develop an indigenous alternative to the C919’s CFM Leap-1C engines within a decade.

While joint ventures with foreign firms can serve as effective vehicles for knowledge transfer, foreign firms recognize the need to carefully safeguard their intellectual property and technologies, perhaps compromising the collaboration needed to meet Comac’s first-delivery target of 2021.

Could the flight deck redesign on ARJ21 also be because of China trying to pass the aircraft for FAA regulations?

In the long run I think it does not matter if the ARJ21 gets FAA flight certification or not. This is a regional airliner. The USA market is already occupied by companies like Embraer and Bombardier. I think over 95% of the ARJ21 orders will be for Chinese customers to begin with. See the trouble Sukhoi has had selling the Superjet abroad and that is a much more advanced aircraft at a similar price. I think FAA certification will become more important with regards to the Comac 919 since this will be a longer range airplane. I think in under a decade the ARJ21 should be replaced by a new design with a more modern layout.

What Comac needs is to churn more units out. Making last minute design changes is probably a bad idea that would impact production.

Production line of ARJ 21 seem like 2 line running in parallel via LKJ86

Can anyone read the serial on the painted unit ?

Look like the 2rd prototype come back to the home base

October 27, 2018

After a little over two hours of flight, the second C919 prototype has now returned to its new "nest" in Nanchang, where the aircraft will continue following its test flights. This is the 4th flight test base for the Chinese program after Shanghai, Xi'an and Dongying.