China Civil Aviation Industry, Technology, Infrastructure: News & Discussions

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China Eastern Renames Business Jet Arm to Use Homegrown ARJ21 Passenger Planes
CHEN SHANSHAN
DATE : AUG 22 2019/SOURCE : YICAI

China Eastern Renames Business Jet Arm to Use Homegrown ARJ21 Passenger Planes​

(Yicai Global) Aug. 22 -- China Eastern Airlines' subsidiary China Eastern Business Jet has changed its name and expanded its business scope as it looks to get its hands on the domestic-made ARJ21 passenger jet.

The firm has opted to rebrand as Yiersan Airlines, or Air 123, and added domestic passenger and cargo transport to its business scope, according to corporate information site Tianyancha.

The ARJ21 is the first solely China-made regional airliner. The 78-to-90 seat jets have a range of between 2,225 and 3,700 kilometers and are intended mainly to transport passengers between major metropolises and the smaller cities that surround them.

China Eastern will initially run ARJ21-700ER planes, ER for extended range, with each having 90 seats and only an economy class section.

Air 123 is also expected to begin running the COMAC C919, a narrow-body twinjet airliner made by Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China. China Eastern is set to be the first company to use the C919 when it receives delivery of its maiden order in 2021.

Rivals Air China and China Southern Airlines Holding also plan to run separate airlines specifically to fly the ARJ21, which COMAC-backed Chengdu Airlines already owns 12 of. Newly founded Genghis Khan Airlines in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region also has two of the jets, and Urumqi Air, part of major conglomerate HNA Group, has ordered 20.

COMAC had the capacity to make 15 ARJ21 planes last year and expects to make 25 this year and 30 in 2020, it told Yicai Global, adding that the company expects to deliver more than 100 of the aircraft.

 

[JSCh]

China, Singapore sign technical arrangement on aviation maintenance
Source: Xinhua| 2019-08-21 23:47:14|Editor: Mu Xuequan

BEIJING, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- China's civil aviation regulator and its counterpart in Singapore have signed a technical arrangement on aviation maintenance, said the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on its website Wednesday.

It is the first time that the CAAC has signed a mutual recognition agreement on continuous airworthiness maintenance with another country, the CAAC said.

The arrangement, the Technical Arrangement on Aviation Maintenance between CAAC and Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, was signed Tuesday in Kathmandu, Nepal, according to the CAAC.

Now 43 maintenance units in Singapore have obtained CAAC maintenance licenses and 26 maintenance units in China hold Singapore maintenance licenses.

The new agreement means that after obtaining the maintenance license from the civil aviation authority of their own country, the maintenance units can obtain a license from the civil aviation authority of the other side through simple procedures, without undergoing an on-site examination by the civil aviation authority of the other side, the CAAC explained.

The signing of the agreement can supplement China's maintenance service system, and helps China's maintenance industry to explore the international market and improve its competitiveness, the CAAC said.

 

[JSCh]

Beijing's new airport completes second round of test flights
By Li Danqing | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2019-08-27 16:35

An A320 China Eastern Airlines aircraft is ready for the flight test at Beijing Daxing International Airport on Aug 26, 2019. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

Five planes completed the second round of test flights at Beijing Daxing International Airport across Monday evening and Tuesday morning, Beijing News reported on Tuesday.

The successful flight tests took place in low visbility, demonstrating the new airport's ability to maintain operation in difficult flying conditions, which can reduce delays due to bad weather such as fog and smog.

An A320 from China Eastern Airlines, A330 from Beijing Capital Airlines, two Boeing-737s from China United Airlines and Hebei Airlines, and an ARJ21 from Chengdu Airlines, China's first homemade regional passenger jetliner, finished their test flights.

 

[oprih]

Beijing's new airport completes second round of test flights
By Li Danqing | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2019-08-27 16:35

An A320 China Eastern Airlines aircraft is ready for the flight test at Beijing Daxing International Airport on Aug 26, 2019. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

Five planes completed the second round of test flights at Beijing Daxing International Airport across Monday evening and Tuesday morning, Beijing News reported on Tuesday.

The successful flight tests took place in low visbility, demonstrating the new airport's ability to maintain operation in difficult flying conditions, which can reduce delays due to bad weather such as fog and smog.

An A320 from China Eastern Airlines, A330 from Beijing Capital Airlines, two Boeing-737s from China United Airlines and Hebei Airlines, and an ARJ21 from Chengdu Airlines, China's first homemade regional passenger jetliner, finished their test flights.

Beijing's new airport is another modern wonder of the world. Well done China!

 

[JSCh]

AUGUST 30, 2019 / 6:12 PM / A DAY AGO
China's top airlines to buy ARJ21 jets from COMAC - Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s three biggest state-owned airlines on Friday announced deals to each purchase 35 ARJ21-700 regional jets from state planemaker Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC).

Air China (601111.SS) (0753.HK), China Southern Airlines Co Ltd (600029.SS) (1055.HK) and China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS) said in separate stock filings that the order is worth $1.33 billion each, based on list prices.

Deliveries were scheduled from 2020 through 2024.

The almost identical announcements from the major airlines may signal an acceleration in the developments of the jet as Beijing seeks to promote its first domestically manufactured jet despite a slow start to sales and production hiccups.

The carriers said the aircraft purchases were aimed at boosting capacity in their regional markets.

China Eastern this month rebranded its Eastern Jets business which operates in general aviation as Air 123 to include public transportation services.

Chinese media have reported that the business was designed to operate home-grown jets such as ARJ21 and C919.

The C919, China’s bid to break the Airbus and Boeing duopoly in the narrow-body passenger jet market, has not yet obtained an airworthiness certification and is not yet in service.

Until now, only small Chinese airlines such as Chengdu Airlines and Inner Mongolia based Genghis Khan Airlines operate the ARJ21, a twin-engine regional jet.

Reporting by Stella Qiu and Brenda Goh; editing by Uttaresh.V and Jason Neely

 

[JSCh]

Aircraft firm reports progress in China's joint jetliner project
By Zhao Lei in Moscow | China Daily | Updated: 2019-09-05 09:22

A full-size model of the CR929 wide-body jet is displayed at the 12th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, also known as Airshow China 2018, in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong province, on Nov 7, 2018. [Photo/IC]

CR929 plane will be able to fly 12,000 kilometers and carry 280 passengers

The largest joint effort between China and Russia in the aviation industry-building the CR929 long-range wide-body jetliner-has begun looking for suppliers, according to Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC).

The company also said in a statement distributed to reporters at the International Aviation and Space Salon 2019 in Zhukovsky, near Moscow, that the CR929 project is now in the preliminary design stage and is proceeding well.

Next, project teams from China and Russia will deepen cooperation to boost research and development of the jumbo jetliner, it added.

COMAC brought a 1:1 model of the CR929's forward fuselage, consisting of the cockpit and a short section of the passenger cabin, to the Russian air show, which ran from last Tuesday to Sunday.

It was the first time the Chinese airliner manufacturer displayed a large-size model of the CR929 overseas, the company said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the model on Tuesday and boarded it to see the inner arrangement and equipment after they inaugurated the Russian air show that morning.

Research and development of the CR929 was launched in 2016. The next year, China-Russia Commercial Aircraft International Corp was established in Shanghai to take responsibility for the endeavor.

With an initial targeted market in China and Russia, the first version of the aircraft-CR929-600-will be able to fly 12,000 kilometers and carry 280 passengers, according to COMAC.

In another development, COMAC announced during the Russian show that the last two C919 prototypes will be delivered to conduct flight tests around the end of this year.

The C919, COMAC's first jetliner, conducted a successful maiden flight in May 2017 at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Currently, four of them are in testing. A total of six prototypes of the jetliner will undergo intensive flight tests.

Launched in 2008, the C919 project is China's first attempt to break the Airbus and Boeing duopoly in more than three decades, after its Y-10 jetliner project was abandoned in the mid-1980s.

The aircraft is set to compete against the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737 series. It will be able to carry up to 168 passengers and has a maximum flight range of about 5,500 km.

To date, COMAC has received 815 orders for the C919 from 28 buyers worldwide, according to the company.

 

[JSCh]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1170068600578691073

COMAC America Corp.@COMACAmerica
#COMAC delivered the third #ARJ21 to Genghis Khan Airlines on 9/5/19! Continued growth in the airline's all-domestic fleet!

4:17 AM - Sep 7, 2019

 

[Beast]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1170068600578691073

COMAC America Corp.@COMACAmerica
#COMAC delivered the third #ARJ21 to Genghis Khan Airlines on 9/5/19! Continued growth in the airline's all-domestic fleet!

4:17 AM - Sep 7, 2019

Can they meet the promised of 20 ARJ-21 delivered by 2019? So far only 6 delivered by Sept 2019. I doubt that.

 

[JSCh]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1170539312179380225

Global Times✔@globaltimesnews

China's #C919 passenger airplane on Saturday flew a "moon cake" flight path to celebrate Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, when moon cakes are traditionally eaten.



11:28 AM - Sep 8, 2019

 

[Beast]

Sab copycat mall hai.

LOL.. Sourgraped.

 

[JSCh]

COMAC says production of C919 to start later this year
By Zhu Wenqian | China Daily | Updated: 2019-09-19 08:26

A model of passenger jet C919 is displayed at the Aviation Expo China in Beijing. [Photo by Chen Xiaogen / For China Daily]

Move will help aviation industry get involved in global supply chain system

Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, the manufacturer of China's first home-built narrow-body passenger jet C919, said it will start manufacturing the first aircraft later this year and it aims to get airworthiness certification and deliver to China Eastern Airlines in two to three years.

Now, four C919 test jets－the 101,102, 103 and 104 prototypes－are in intense flying tests, static tests and other ground tests at test bases including Yanliang district in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, Dongying in Shandong province, and Nanchang in Jiangxi province. Another two new test jets, the 105 and 106, will be put into tests within this year. So far, 815 orders have been placed for the C919 from home and abroad.

"The manufacturing of the C919 will help the Chinese aviation industry to be involved in the world's supply chain system of large aircraft, and China will be able to acquire valuable experience," said Wang Yanan, editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge magazine.

"The C919 still needs to undergo several tests to showcase that it is a safe, fuel-efficient, and convenient aircraft. The Chinese aviation industry could transform from a manufacturing giant to an innovation power," he said.

Meanwhile, the CR929 long-range wide-body aircraft, which is co-developed by China and Russia, has finished conceptual designs, and now it is in the stage of selecting suppliers.

"Aero engine makers General Electric Aviation of the United States and Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc of the United Kingdom, among others, are in the bidding process, and we will announce the result at a later stage," Yang Yang, deputy general manager of marketing and sales at COMAC, said at the ongoing Aviation Expo China in Beijing on Wednesday.

The CR929 will mainly target markets in China, Russia and other Asia-Pacific countries. Its competing models include the Airbus'A330 and Boeing's B787.

Besides, the ARJ21, China's first home built regional passenger jetliner, has already been put into use with 15 aircraft by Chengdu Airlines and Genghis Khan Airlines. In August, three major State-owned airlines－Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines－each ordered 35 new ARJ21 aircraft, indicating the model will start all-around commercial use in the country.

"The market for the ARJ21 is better than we expected. We have an order of 596 aircraft, and about 200 of them have been put into production plan. Now, we have two production lines in Shanghai," Yang said.

"With a growing demand from customers, we will be able to expand the annual capacity to about 50 in total. We are also looking at the opportunities to export the aircraft to Southeast Asian countries and Africa," he said.

In late August, the ARJ21 aircraft undertook a three-day demonstration flight in Southwest China, to showcase its performance in plateau areas. COMAC said the plateau market would become an important growth segment for the aircraft, as the model is suitable to fly in highland areas.

Separately, COMAC released its forecast for China's aviation market in the next 20 years on Wednesday. It predicted Chinese airlines would need 10,344 airplanes by 2038. Boeing released its forecast on Tuesday and raised its forecast for China, saying that over the next 20 years, Chinese carriers will need 8,090 new airplanes.

 

[JSCh]

IOE Provides An Important 'Puzzle' to Smart Airport---Chinese Academy of Sciences
Sep 20, 2019

Recently, Sichuan Zhongke Chengguang Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Institute of Optics and Electronics (IOE), has applied its 2D precision tracking control platform (optical turntable) and other related scientific and technological achievements to civil aviation field, which will be used to build smart airport.

With the characteristics of high precision, high reliability, high environmental adaptability and maintenance free, this optical turntable can ensure the safety of aircraft taking off and landing. The optical turntable can be used for real-time inspection of foreign bodies on the runway when the aircraft is taking off or landing.

Fig. 1. 2D precision tracking control platform, optical turntable (Image by IOE)​

At the same time, the 8m antenna turntable system and 5m antenna turntable system developed by this company can be used in airport primary and secondary radar systems. The antenna turntable system plays an important role in airport radar operation control and safety. It’s going to be one of the key products to replace imported equipments.

Next, IOE will try to apply its photoelectric detection and tracking technology to airport foreign object detection, aircraft tracking, drone and bird monitoring. They will build an industrial technology innovation chain and pay more attention to the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, contributing to the construction of smart airports and civil aviation powers.

IOE has joined the Civil Aviation Smart Airport Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance in 2019. The alliance was established under the auspices of the Civil Aviation Administration, aiming to integrate industry-related advantages, promote efficient integration of production, education and research. Through these measures, the transformation of scientific and technological achievements will be promoted too.

 

[JSCh]

中国商飞
今天 10:03
来自 iPhone客户端
9月20日下午，C919飞机104架机于14时59分从东营胜利机场起飞，经过1小时49分钟的空中飞行，于16时48分平稳降落在西安阎良机场，圆满完成东营-阎良转场试飞任务。本次机组共有5名成员，试飞员：邹礼学、吴鑫、聂飞；试飞工程师：王嘉一、李畅。
COMAC
Today 10:03

On the afternoon of September 20, the C919 aircraft took off from Dongying Shengli Airport at 14:59. After 1 hour and 49 minutes of air flight, it landed smoothly at Xi'an Yanliang Airport at 16:48, successfully completing Dongying-Yanliang. transfer test flight mission. The crew has 5 members, test pilots: Zou Lixue, Wu Xin, Nie Fei; flight test engineers: Wang Jiayi, Li Chang.

 

[JSCh]

Infographic: Take a panoramic tour of Beijing Daxing International Airport
chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2019-09-25 08:34

Beijing's new mega-airport opens on Wednesday, welcoming its first passengers after five years of construction.

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China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines will lead, with flights leaving Beijing Daxing International Airport at 3:45 pm Wednesday to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport, respectively, according to flight app Umetrip. An Air China flight will leave for Chengdu 15 minutes later.

Qian Yuanyuan, manager of the airport's operations department, said a China Southern Airbus A380, a China Eastern Airbus A350-900 and an Air China Boeing B747-8 would be the first passenger departures. On Wednesday, the first passengers will arrive in one flight each from China United Airlines, Capital Airlines and Hebei Airlines.

On Tuesday, five empty planes arrived: two from China Eastern and one each from China Southern, Air China and Xiamen Air. They flew to Daxing from Beijing Capital International Airport.

China Southern will have 40 percent of airport slots at Daxing, followed by China Eastern with 30 percent and other airlines sharing the rest, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

China United Airlines, a subsidiary of China Eastern, will be the first airline to transfer its base of operations to Daxing. Currently at Beijing Nanyuan Airport, it will operate over 130 daily flights from the new airport, serving 60 routes.

The 80 billion-yuan ($11.7 billion) facility, 46 kilometers south of downtown, will ultimately handle over 100 million passengers a year, matching Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the United States.

 

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Major carrier ready for takeoff at Daxing Airport
Yang Jian 13:31 UTC+8, 2019-09-25

An intelligent robot is ready to assist passengers at China Southern's self-service check-in counters at the Daxing International Airport.

China Southern Airlines, the largest operator at Beijing’s new Daxing International Airport, has launched its operation control center, the largest in Asia, to prepare for the airport’s grand opening.

Covering 3,400 square meters, the operational headquarters features 48 screens displaying information for each flight at the mega airport. Over 200 operators can track aircraft, create flight plans and send orders to airport support teams in real time.

The Guangzhou-based carrier, one of the major airlines based at the new airport, also launched its fast check-in and boarding procedures based on artificial intelligence and 5G network.

After downloading the airline’s mobile app, passengers can complete check-in, luggage check, security check and boarding procedures with their phones and by having their faces scanned, the carrier said.

An AI robot named Xiao Nan has also been unveiled to offer information on flights, traffic, airport buses and facilities inside the airport, along with other services.

The airline has installed 30 multilingual self-serve check-in machines and 78 self service luggage-check machines at the terminal building. By scanning a QR code on the carrier's mobile app, passengers can also track their luggage on their phone.

China Southern will account for over 40 percent of travelers at the airport upon its opening. It has built the largest airport hanger in Asia at the airport, which can serve two Airbus 380 super-jumbos simultaneously.

Its food preparation facility, also the largest of its kind in Asia, can cook up to 180,000 meals per day.

After the winter flight season, China Southern will operate 28 inbound and outbound flights from Daxing Airport.

The new airport, located near the junction of Beijing's Daxing District and Langfang in north Hebei Province, is expected to handle 45 million passengers annually by 2021 and 72 million by 2025, making it one of the busiest airports in the world.

Covering a land area of 47 square kilometers, the new airport will be double the size of the existing capital airport, which is currently the largest airport in China.

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The operational headquarters of China Southern, said to be the largest in Asia, at the Daxing airport

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A China Southern's VIP lounge at the terminal building of the Daxing airport

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A China Southern's VIP lounge at the terminal building of the Daxing airport

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China Southern's massive cargo transport center at the Daxing Airport

Source: SHINE Editor: Cai Wenjun

https://twitter.com/x/status/1176775373746401280

https://twitter.com/x/status/1176775988933349376