Comac ARJ21

ARJ21 Xiangfeng
ARJ21-700 in flight at the Zhuhai Air Show (2010).
Role	Regional jet
Manufacturer	Comac
Designer	AVIC I Commercial Aircraft Company (ACAC) and Antonov
First flight	28 November 2008
Introduction	28 February 2016 with Chengdu Airlines[1]
Status	In production, in service
Primary user	Chengdu Airlines[2]
Produced	2007–present[3]
Number built	6[4]
Unit cost	US $30 million as of 2015

The Comac ARJ21 Xiangfeng (Chinese: 翔凤; pinyin: xiángfèng; literally: "Flying Phoenix")^[5] is a twin-engined regional jet, manufactured by Comac.

Development

The development of the ARJ21 (Advanced Regional Jet) is a key project in the "10th Five-Year Plan" of China. It began in March 2002 and was led by the state-owned ACAC consortium. The maiden flight of the ARJ21 was initially planned to take place in 2005 with commercial service beginning 18 months afterwards.^[6] The programme was to become 8 years behind schedule.^[7] The design work was delayed and the final trial production stage did not begin until June 2006.^[8] The first prototype (serial number 101) rolled out on 21 December 2007, with plans for a maiden flight in March 2008.^[5] This was first delayed to 21 September 2008 and finally took place on 28 November 2008 at Shanghai's Dachang Airfield.^[9] The aircraft 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 (serial number 102) completed the same test flight route on 24 August 2009. The third aircraft (serial number 103) similarly completed its first test flight on 12 September 2009.^[10] The fourth aircraft (CN 104) flew by November 2010. By August 2011, static, flutter and crosswind flight tests had been completed.^[11] Deliveries to customers were expected to begin in late 2010, starting with Chengdu Airlines.^[12]

The ACAC consortium initially 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.^[13]

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 (CAAC) to limit the aircraft’s flight envelope during its flight test program. The new delivery date was then set at the end of 2011.^[14]

A COMAC ARJ21-700

On 19 August 2011, it was reported that the first delivery of the ARJ21 would likely to be delayed by up to a year or more after problems surfaced during the flight testing programme.^[15] 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 yet begun. According to an anonymous source within the program, this could lead to delays in obtaining type certification, which could in turn lead to delays in delivery.^[11]

On 8 June 2012, A COMAC official told Reuters that ARJ21 was unlikely to get regulatory approval before 2013, without giving an official reason for the 5-year delay. A Reuters investigation suggested that problems with wing cracks, wiring and avionics had contributed to the delay.^[16]

Earning a United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) type certification is a precondition for the ARJ21-700 to enter the global aviation market. Since 2003, the aviation authorities of China and the USA had been negotiating the ARJ21-700 application for FAA type certification and 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 (CAAC). 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.^[17]

A scaled-down model of ARJ21-700 in display at Singapore Airshow 2010

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.^[18]

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".^[19]

Model of an ARJ21 from Joy Air seen at the Airshow China 2008 in Zhuhai

However, in September 2013, COMAC announced that it hoped the ARJ21-700 would achieve CAAC certification during 2014, and enter service by the end of 2014.^[20][21] 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.^[18] After the first production aircraft flew on 18 June 2014, it was announced that production of 2 aircraft was planned for 2014, with 5, 8, 15 and 20 aircraft in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively.^[7]

Key flight tests and CAAC certification

ARJ21-700 AC104 of Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC) returned to China safely on April 28, 2014 after completing natural icing flight test successfully in North America. This is the first time for the first turbofan regional jet independently developed by China to fly abroad and carry out flight test in special weather conditions, and meanwhile, ARJ21-700 aircraft has achieved a global flight of 30,000 km across Asia, America, Europe, Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean. The success of ARJ21-700 natural icing flight test has verified the flight safety of the aircraft in icing conditions, cleared another obstacle troubling airworthiness certification, and provided an access for China’s civil aircraft to carry out flight test abroad.^[22]

ARJ21-700 AC104 successfully completed one flight of supplementary applicant flight test for compliance of airspeed calibration on October 30, 2014, which led to an entire completion of all flight tests undertaken by AC104 before Type Certification (TC).

Since the first flight on April 13, 2010, AC104 has undertaken and completed major flight tests of stall, high-speed characteristic, noise, simulated icing, minimum flight crew, etc., and has realized global flight and natural icing flight test successfully in this year. Over the years, ARJ21-700 AC104 has accumulated 711 flights in 1,442 hours and 23 minutes, and accomplished 468 test points (74 tests) of applicant flight test for compliance and 420 test points (63 tests) of certification flight test. AC104 becomes the first test aircraft which completes all the flight tests before TC.^[23]

ARJ21-700 AC105 returned to Yanliang airport at 12:32 on December 16, 2014 from Xi'an Xianyang International Airport after the last flight for function and reliability flight test, which indicates that the function and reliability flight test of ARJ21-700 aircraft has been completed successfully, and also indicates that all the flight tests before airworthiness certification of the aircraft have been completed successfully.

Function and reliability flight test is the last major special flight test before the issuance of Type Certificate (TC). ARJ21-700 aircraft has conducted the function and reliability flight test strictly in accordance with flight test plan and successfully completed the special inspection of various systems. Since the flight test was officially started on October 29, AC105 has successively conducted 83 flights in the routes among 10 airports in Chengdu, Guiyang, Guilin, Haikou, Fuzhou, Zhoushan, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Yinchuan and Xianyang to simulate operations in routes. The cumulative flight time was 173 hours and 55 minutes.^[24]

The ARJ21-700 advanced regional jet received its Type Certification under Chapter 25 of the Chinese civil aviation regulations from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), on December 30, 2014.^[25] However, it is unclear when COMAC will actually apply for US or European certification, and the aircraft likely needs a good domestic service record before there will be any willing foreign buyers. Gao Yuanyang, an associate professor at Beihang University and an expert on Chinese commercial aviation, told the Wall Street Journal that "Internationalizing the ARJ21 and C919 isn't realistic at this point," and that "Comac must first focus on the domestic market and gain acceptance from airlines and passengers, in terms of performance, maintenance and comfort." Since domestic air travel is increasing dramatically, and the Chinese government controls domestic Chinese airlines, Comac can count on its initial 300 order backlog.^[26]

ARJ21-700 completed the final demonstration flight on 12 September 2015 prior to delivery.

On 29 November 2015, COMAC delivered the first ARJ21-700 jet plane to Chengdu Airlines.^[27]

Design

Comac was accused of copying the MD-80, as it reuses the tooling that was provided by McDonnell Douglas for the licensed production of the MD-80 in China.^[28] However, it was believed to be a practice aircraft since China has claimed to have developed Comac C919 completely by themselves.^[29][30][31] The ARJ-21's development did depend heavily on foreign suppliers, including engines and avionics from the United States.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.^[32][33][34] Antonov also assisted the project with geometrical determination and integral analysis of the construction strength of ARJ21.^[32] Some of China's supercomputers have been used to design parts for ARJ21.^[35]

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
• Xi'an Aircraft Company: construction of the wings and fuselage; wing designed by Antonov State Company in the Ukraine.
• Shenyang Aircraft Corporation: construction of the empennage
• Shanghai Aircraft Company: final assembly
• General Electric Company: CF-34 turbofan ^[36]
• Rockwell Collins: Avionics
• Various domestic and international suppliers of component's suppliers.^[37][38]

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

Planned 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

Planned business jet version of the ARJ21-700. A typical configuration would cater for 20 passengers.

Orders and deliveries

As of 2015, six ARJ21-700 have been built and one entried into service.^[39]

Date	Airline	Type		Options	Rights	Deliveries
		ARJ 21-700	ARJ 21-900			2015	2016
September 2003	Shanghai Airlines[40]	5
	Shandong Airlines[40]	10
	Shenzhen Financial Leasing[40]	20
	Shanghai Financial Leasing[40]	30
March 2004	Xiamen Airlines[41][42]	6
December 2007	Henan Airlines[43][44]	100
December 2007	Lao Airlines[45][46]	2
March 2008	GECAS[47]	5		20
	Joy Air[48]	50
January 2010	Chengdu Airlines	30				1
May 2010	Merkukh Enterprises[49]	9
June 2011	Myanma Airways	2
February 2012	Merpati Nusantara Airlines	40
November 11, 2014	Republic of Congo[50]	3
March 9, 2015	ICBC Leasing[51]	30
Totals		342 Orders		20		1

• Entries shaded in pink have been announced, but have not yet signed a firm contract.

Specifications

• Notes: Data are provided for reference only. STD = Standard Range, ER = Extended Range
• Sources: ARJ21 Series,^[52] ICAS^[53]

See also

• Comac C919

Related development

• McDonnell Douglas DC-9
• McDonnell Douglas MD-80
• McDonnell Douglas MD-90
• Boeing 717

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Antonov An-148
• Bombardier CRJ700 series
• Embraer E-Jets/E-Jets E2
• Mitsubishi Regional Jet
• Sukhoi Superjet 100

Related lists

• List of jet airliners
• List of airliners
• List of Chinese aircraft

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Comac ARJ21.

• ACAC Manufacturer of ARJ21
• Aerospace Technology on ARJ21
• Chinese regional jet takes flight, but future remains unclear – Nikkei Asian Review, November 15, 2014