Shanghai Aviation Industrial (Group) Corp, which once built 35 MD aircraft in the 1980s and 1990s with McDonnell Douglas, is preparing to re-start its suspended aircraft assembly lines to mass produce the country's first patented regional civil aircraft, Zhou Baogui, director of the company's ARJ21 Project Office, told China Daily in an interview.

The new jetliner cost 5 billion yuan (US$602 million) in preliminary studies and research and China possesses the intellectual property rights for the project, according to industry sources.

Zhou said the company is now joining with its domestic partners in Southwest China's Chengdu, Northeast China's Shenyang and Northwest China's Xi'an to make final "technical and material'' preparations for the production of the ARJ21 airliners.

Approved by the State Council, China Aviation Industry Corporation I has launched manufacturing bases in the three cities to build components of ARJ21 airliners.

Shanghai, which already has the equipment, experience and know-how to build MD passenger planes, has won the job of assembling the new ARJ21 airliners, according to Zhou.

"Leading aviation experts are now in Shanghai to test the facilities,'' said Zhou.

"They are adjusting the former equipment to assemble the MD planes,'' said Zhou, revealing that the company would mainly use the existing facilities for the making of new domestic jets.

An demonstration ARJ21 plane is now available and the new jetliner will enter into service at the end of 2006 or early 2007, according to Zhou.

The company plans to assemble some 300 aircrafts in the following two decades depending on market demand, he said.

ARJ21, which stands for "advanced regional jet for the 21st century,'' should help China grab a share of the world's fledgling regional jet market, an analyst said.

"It is a milestone for the Chinese aircraft manufacturing industry in the new century,'' said Zhou.

Currently, China's national and international airliners are mainly imported from monopolized aircraft manufacturing giants like Boeing and Airbus, with feeder jets imported from Canada and Brazil, according to Zhou.

ARJ21, which has 60 to 90 seats, is designed to firstly meet the demands of the domestic market.

But it could also enter the international market, with a focus on parts of Asia, Africa and South America, according to Zhou.

(China Daily December 20, 2002)