Aircraft

The Chinese public is being asked by Chinese aircraft maker AVIC I to help choose a name of the country's first commercial aircraft.

Submissions of names between two and four Chinese characters long will be accepted until Sept. 28, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Currently known as the ARJ-21, the aircraft is a regional passenger jet with up to 85 seats. It's maiden flight is scheduled for March 2008, with mass production to begin in 2009.

The name will be announced in December with the winner receiving a 50,000-yuan (US$6,623 / €4,847) cash prize.

Related links from Flight International's PDF archive on the Chinese aviation market -

• The China Syndrome
• Regional rebuild
• Bigger is better