A joint venture between Honeywell and its Chinese partners has broken ground on a facility in China's Hunan province to produce the wheels and brakes systems for the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) C919 narrowbody.

The joint venture, called Honeywell-Boyun Aviation Systems (Hunan), will design, develop, manufacture, test, certify and sell the systems for the aircraft, says Comac in a statement. It will also be responsible for servicing.

Honeywell has said previously that its Chinese partners in the joint venture are Hunan Boyun New Materials Company and Changsha Xinhang Wheel & Brake Company.

The joint venture has a registered capital of $80 million and a total investment of $500 million, says Comac.

The C919 is scheduled to have its first flight in 2014, with first delivery in 2016.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news