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Source: Air Transport Intelligence news

First flight of ARJ21 delayed
Leithen Francis, Singapore (03Mar08, 03:04 GMT, 162 words)

First flight of China’s ARJ21-700 has been delayed and the company has yet to fix a new date for first flight.

The ARJ21-700 had its roll-out last December as scheduled and was due to have its first test flight in March this year but a spokesman for the aircraft marker in Shanghai says in an email to ATI that “it will not happen in March”.

He says the first flight may be sometime before July this year but the company has yet to set a date.

The ARJ21-700 is a 90-seat regional jet aircraft by China Aviation Industry Corp. I Commercial Aircraft (ACAC).

ACAC oversees the programme and has said earlier it aims to have the aircraft receive Chinese certification in 2009’s third quarter in time for first delivery to launch customer Shandong Airlines before the end of 2009.

This aircraft is assembled at Shanghai Aircraft (SAC) and uses major sub-assemblies from China Aviation Industry Corp. (AVIC) I factories around the country.

The Chinese AVIC I Advanced Regional Jet for the 21st Century (ARJ21-700) rolled out on Friday afternoon in Shanghai. This is a major milestone in Chinese aerospace. This is the first commercial jet offering in Chinese history. AVIC announced a 100 aircraft order by Kunpeng Airlines, a joint venture between China and Mesa Air Group, bringing the order total to 170. The 70 to 95 seat aircraft is powered by two General Electric CF34-10A turbofans at 15,332 lbs. of thrust each.

Bombardier and AVIC have decided to collaborate on the development of the larger ARJ21-900. This collaboration may actually lead to trouble for Bombardier if the -700 begins to eat into its market share on the CRJ.

One thing that deserves special attention is the design of this aircraft. Though it does bear a striking resemblance to a western counterpart, what strikes me when looking at these photographs, which were taken by Flight's Leithen Francis, is the very troubling location of the aft emergency exits. If you look closely as these photographs, you'll notice that the aft exit is directly in front of the engine inlets. In the event of an emergency evacuation, passengers will be exiting dangerously close to the engine, which could be potentially spinning and/or on fire at the time. I cannot imagine that safety regulators will be content with this design, nor should they.

Overall, the introduction of a new national player in commercial aircraft design and manufacture is a very bright point for the industry which will only serve to drive new partnerships, innovation, research and development. The more choices the market has, the better the products the flying public gets to enjoy.

All Photos Courtesy of Leithen Francis

Many more photos below the fold.