The Comac ARJ21 Xiangfeng is a twin-engined regional airliner. The design incorporates
components from 19 major European and US aerospace suppliers, including General Electric, Honeywell
and Rockwell Collins.
Development The development of the ARJ21 regional jet
is a key project in the "10th Five-Year Plan" of China. It began in March 2002 and was led
by the government-controlled ACAC consortium. The maiden flight of the ARJ21 was initially
planned to take place in 2005 with commercial service beginning 18 months afterwards.
However, the design work was delayed and the final trial production stage did not begin
until June 2006. The first aircraft was rolled out on 21 December 2007 with plans for a maiden
flight in March 2008. This was first delayed to 21 September 2008 and finally took place
on 28 November 2008 at Shanghai's Dachang Airfield. The plane completed a long distance
test flight on 15 July 2009, flying from Shanghai to Xi'an in 2 hours 19 minutes, over a distance
of 1,300 km. The second ARJ21 plane completed the same test flight route on 24 August 2009.
The third plane similarly completed the test flight on 12 September 2009. The fourth aircraft
was flying by November 2010. By August 2011, static, flutter and crosswind tests of the
completed aircraft had been completed. The aircraft was expected to be delivered to customers
in late 2010, starting with Chengdu Airlines. The ACAC consortium aimed to manufacture 11
ARJ21s a year by 2010, and 30 per year by 2015. In 2009 the consortium was reorganized
and became a part of COMAC. Further delays
In November 2010, an ARJ21 wing failed to reach the predicted load rating during static
testing. The wing's failure then led the Civil Aviation Administration of China to limit
the aircraft’s flight envelope during its flight test program. The new delivery date
was then set at the end of 2011.
On 19 August 2011, it was reported that the first delivery of the Commercial Aircraft
Corporation of China ARJ21 regional jet is likely to be delayed by up to a year or more,
after problems surfaced during the flight testing programme. On 24 August 2011, it was
reported that two components of the testing program had not been completed; icing tests
were underway but delayed and stall speed tests had not begun. According to an anonymous
source within the program that this could lead to delay in obtaining type certification,
which could in turn lead to delays in delivery. On 8 June 2012, A COMAC official told Reuters
that ARJ21 was unlikely to get regulatory approval before 2013, without giving official
reason for the 5 year delay so far. Reuters investigation suggested wing cracks and problems
with wiring and avionics were among the reasons for delays.
Earning a United States Federal Aviation Administration type certification is a precondition for the
ARJ21-700 to enter the world market. Since 2003, the aviation authorities of China and
the USA have been negotiating about the ARJ21-700 application for FAA type certification and
the shadow certification. As a result the FAA will accept a type certification application
of AVIC I Commercial Aircraft Company’s ARJ21-700 that will be sent by the Civil Aviation
Administration of China. The FAA also decided to develop a shadow certification for ARJ21-700
under the current standards and established the CAAC Technology Support Office in Shanghai
and Beijing. At the meeting, Luo Ronghuai, assistant general manager of AVIC 1 and general
manager of ACAC, said ACAC would follow the strict airworthiness standards of the CAAC
and FAA. On 28 June 2012, the ARJ21-700 travelled at
high speed on a specially constructed test lane at Xi'an Yanliang airport. Since 22 June,
the aircraft has undergone 10 tests on taxiing, take-off and landing at different speeds on
a flooded runway. The tests ensure that the aircraft is able to taxi, take-off and land
despite having water on the runway. Since the aircraft entered the validation flight
test phase in February 2012, it has been scheduled to undergo 1,500 hours of validation flight
tests involving 280 subjects. It has since completed the airspeed calibration, natural
icing, engine nacelle anti-icing, crosswind validation tests and is preparing for a stall
flight test. In July 2012, Comac's chief financial officer
Tian Min said at the Farnborough Airshow that he expected the aircraft to receive certification
from both the US FAA and the Civil Aviation Administration of China in 2013, with the
first delivery to launch customer Chengdu Airlines to occur around the end of 2013.
He told the press that "The programme is now undergoing certification tests and flights.
There have been some problems but that's part of the process and progress is good. There
are no serious issues". However, in September 2013, COMAC announced
that it hopes the ARJ21-700 would take its certification, from CAAC, during 2014, and
enter service by the end of 2014. The launch customer Chengdu Airlines was due to receive
its first aircraft by the end of 2011, but ongoing delays in the certification process
has caused it to be postponed. Design
Comac was accused of copying the MD-80, although ACAC refers to the ARJ21 as "designed by Chinese
with completely independent intellectual property rights". Indeed, it reuses the tooling that
was provided by McDonnel Douglas for the production under license of the MD80 in China. However,
it was believed to be a practice plane since their new plane, the Comac C919 was completely
designed by themselves. The plane features an all-new supercritical wing having a sweepback
of 25 degrees and designed by Ukraine’s Antonov Design Bureau. It is fitted with winglets
to improve aerodynamic performance. Antonov also assisted the project with geometrical
determination and integral analysis of the construction strength of ARJ21. Some of China's
supercomputers have been used to design parts for ARJ21. The first general designer of ARJ21
is Mr. Wu Xingshi, who was also the general designer of Shanghai Y-10, and the current
general designer of ARJ21 is Mr. Chen Yong. In addition to the baseline and the stretched
passenger models, ACAC has proposed extended-range, freight, and business jet variants.
Manufacturers Members of the ACAC consortium, which was
formed to develop the aircraft, will manufacture major components of the aircraft:
Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group: construction of the nose
Xian Aircraft Company: construction of the wings and fuselage
Shenyang Aircraft Corporation: construction of the empennage
Shanghai Aircraft Company: final assembly Various domestic and international suppliers
of component's suppliers. Variants
ARJ21-700 – baseline model which will have a capacity of 70 to 95 passengers.
ARJ21-900 – stretched fuselage model based on the ARJ-700, which will have a capacity
of 95 to 105 passengers. ARJ21F – dedicated freighter version of
the ARJ21-700. It will have a capacity of 5 LD7 containers or PIP pallets, with a maximum
payload of 10,150 kg. ARJ21B – business jet version of the ARJ21-700.
A typical configuration would cater for 20 passengers.
Orders and options Entries shaded in pink have been announced,
but have not yet signed a firm contract. Six ARJ21 have been built, but none have entered
service. Specifications
Notes: Data are provided for reference only. STD = Standard Range, ER = Extended Range
Sources: ARJ21 Series, ICAS See also
Comac C919 Related development
McDonnell Douglas DC-9 McDonnell Douglas MD-80
McDonnell Douglas MD-90 Aircraft of comparable role, configuration
and era Antonov An-148
Boeing 717 Bombardier CRJ700 series
Embraer E-Jets/E-Jets E2 Fokker 100
Mitsubishi Regional Jet Sukhoi Superjet 100
Tupolev Tu-334 Yakovlev Yak-42D
Related lists List of airliners
List of Chinese aircraft References
External links ACAC Manufacturer of ARJ21
Aerospace Technology on ARJ21