Comac ARJ21

ARJ21
ARJ21 inflight at the Zhuhai Air Show (2010).
Role	Regional jet
Manufacturer	Comac
Designer	AVIC I Commercial Aircraft Company (ACAC)and Antonov (derived from McDonnell Douglas MD90)
First flight	28 November 2008
Status	Flight testing
Number built	6[1]
Unit cost	US $20 million as of 2008

A COMAC ARJ-21

The Comac ARJ21 Xiangfeng (Chinese: 翔凤; pinyin: xiángfèng; literally "Soaring Phoenix")^[2] is a twin-engined regional airliner. It is the first regional passenger jet to be developed and indigenously produced by the People's Republic of China. This programme is supported by 19 major European and US aerospace components suppliers, including General Electric (engine production),^[3] Honeywell (fly-by-wire system) and Rockwell Collins (avionics production).^[4]

Development

The ARJ21 is a key project, led by the government-controlled ACAC consortium, which began in March 2002 as part of China's "10th Five-Year Plan". The maiden flight of the ARJ21 was planned to take place in 2005 with formal handing over of the aircraft for use 18 months afterwards;^[5] however, the design work was delayed and the final trial production stage did not begin until June 2006.^[6] The first aircraft (serial number 101) was rolled out on 21 December 2007 with plans for a maiden flight in March 2008;^[2] however this was first delayed to 21 September 2008 and finally took place on 28 November 2008 at Shanghai's Dachang Airfield.^[7] It 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 (serial number 102) completed the same test flight from Shanghai to Xi'an on 24 August 2009. The third plane (serial number 103) had rolled out by then, and completed the test flight on 12 September 2009.^[8] By August 2011, static, flutter and crosswind tests had all been completed.^[9] The aircraft was expected to be delivered to customers in late 2010, starting with Chengdu Airlines.^[10] 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.^[11]

Delays

In November 2010, it was reported that the ARJ21's wing became damaged during static testing before achieving ultimate predicted load. 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 has been delayed to the end of 2011.^[12]

On 24 August 2011, Flightglobal.com reported that two components of the testing program were not complete; 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.^[9]

Design

The Shanghai Aircraft Research Institute and the Xian Aircraft Design and Research Institute claim to be responsible for the design.

Although ACAC refers to the ARJ21 as "designed by Chinese with completely independent intellectual property rights",^[13][14][15] it is being built using tooling which was originally provided by the McDonnell Douglas Corporation for licence-production of the MD-90 in China. Consequently, it bears a strong resemblance to the DC-9 family of aircraft, with an identical cabin cross section, nose profile and tail. An all-new supercritical wing, which has a sweepback of 25 degrees and is fitted with winglets to improve aerodynamic performance, was designed by Ukraine’s Antonov.^[16][17][18] Antonov Design Bureau also assisted the project with geometrical determination and integral analysis of the construction strength of ARJ21.^[16]

In addition to the baseline and the stretched passenger models, ACAC has also proposed extended-range, freight, and business jet variants.

Manufacturer

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.^[19]

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.

Date	Airline	EIS	Type
			ARJ21-700	ARJ21-900	ARJ21F	ARJ21B	TBA	Options	Rights
September 2003	Shanghai Airlines[20]	?	5
	Shandong Airlines[20]	?	10
	Shenzhen Financial Leasing[20]	?	20
	Shanghai Financial Leasing[20]	?	30
March 2004	Xiamen Airlines[21][22]	?	6
December 2007	Henan Airlines[23][24]	?	100
December 2007	Lao Airlines[25][26]	2011?	2
March 2008	GECAS[27]	2013	5					20
	Joy Air[28]	?	50
January 2010	Chengdu Airlines	2011	30
May 2010	Merkukh Enterprises[29]	?	9
June 2011	Myanmar Airways	?	2
Sub-totals			239	0	0	0	0	20	0
Totals			239 Orders					20

Six ARJ21 have been built, but none have entered into service.

Specifications

	ARJ21-700	ARJ21-900
Cockpit crew	Two
Seating capacity	90 (1-class) 78 (2-class)	105 (1-class) 98 (2-class)
Length	33.46 metres (109 ft 9 in)	36.35 metres (119 ft 3 in)
Wingspan	27.28 metres (89 ft 6 in)
Wing area	79.86 square metres (859.6 sq ft)
Wing Sweepback	25 degrees
Height	8.44 metres (27 ft 8 in)
Cabin width	3.143 metres (10 ft 3.7 in)
Cabin height	2.03 metres (6 ft 8 in)
Aisle width	0.483 metres (19.0 in)
Seat width	0.455 metres (17.9 in)
Typical empty weight	24,955 kilograms (55,020 lb)	26,270 kilograms (57,900 lb) STD 26,770 kilograms (59,000 lb) ER
Maximum take-off weight	40,500 kilograms (89,000 lb) STD 43,500 kilograms (96,000 lb) ER	43,616 kilograms (96,160 lb) STD 47,182 kilograms (104,020 lb) ER
Range fully loaded	1,200 nautical miles (2,200 km; 1,400 mi) STD 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km; 2,300 mi) ER	1,200 nautical miles (2,200 km; 1,400 mi) STD 1,800 nautical miles (3,300 km; 2,100 mi) ER
Max. operating speed	Mach 0.82
Normal Cruise speed	Mach 0.78
Take off run at MTOW	1,700 metres (5,600 ft) STD 1,900 metres (6,200 ft) ER	1,750 metres (5,740 ft) STD 1,950 metres (6,400 ft) ER
Service Ceiling	11,900 metres (39,000 ft)
Powerplants (2x)	General Electric CF34-10A
Engine thrust	17,057 lbf	18,500 lbf

• Notes: Data are provided for reference only. STD = Standard Range, ER = Extended Range
• Sources: ARJ21 Series^[30]

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 CRJ700/900/1000
• Embraer 170/190
• Fokker 100
• Mitsubishi Regional Jet
• Sukhoi Superjet 100
• Tupolev Tu-334
• Yakovlev Yak-42D
  

Related lists

• List of airliners
• List of Chinese aircraft
  

References

1. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
2. ^ ^{a b} "'Flying Phoenix' is China's second homegrown commercial aircraft, the first being the Shanghai_Y-10". Associated Press. TheRecord.com. http://news.therecord.com/Business/article/286248. Retrieved 2007-12-24. 
3. ^ "ACAC selects General Electric to power ARJ21". GE Aviation. http://www.geae.com/aboutgeae/presscenter/cf34/cf34_20021104.html. Retrieved 2002-11-04. 
4. ^ "Rockwell Collins announces first delivery for ARJ21". Rockwell Collions. http://www.rockwellcollins.com/news/page8116.html. Retrieved 2006-07-27. 
5. ^ "China-Made ARJ21 Feeder Plane to Appear at Zhuhai Aviation Show". People's Daily. http://english.people.com.cn/200211/04/eng20021104_106234.shtml. Retrieved 2002-11-04. 
6. ^ "Self-developed jet to fly maiden trip". XINHUA. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-06/01/content_4631760.htm. Retrieved 2006-06-01. 
7. ^ "China's ARJ21 Regional Jet made first flight". Huanqiu. http://66.102.9.104/translate_c?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://mil.huanqiu.com/china/2008-11/297190.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://mil.huanqiu.com/china/2008-11/297190.html%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG&usg=ALkJrhiqZA_7pkU0-G-KNvYIoGuEi5MY_Q. Retrieved 2008-11-28. 
8. ^ "Third Chinese ARJ-21-700 takes off (in Spanish)". CCTV. http://www.cctv.com/program/e_BizChina/20090914/102936.shtml. Retrieved 2009-09-14. 
9. ^ ^{a b} "China's ARJ21 falls behind on flight test schedule". Flightglobal.com. 24 August 2011. Archived from the original on 28 August 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/61HOCook1. Retrieved 18 October2011. 
10. ^ "China's United Eagle renamed Chengdu Airlines". http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/01/20/337344/chinas-united-eagle-renamed-chengdu-airlines.html. 
11. ^ information on COMAC's website (Chinese)
12. ^ Latest delays due to wing problemsInformation (English)
13. ^ "Xinhua - English". News.xinhuanet.com. 2006-06-01. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-06/01/content_4631760.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-02. 
14. ^ "我国已具备生产大型民用飞机的能力". News.eastday.com. 2007-03-30. http://news.eastday.com/c/20070904/u1a3087281.html. Retrieved 2010-06-02. 
15. ^ "中国首架自主知识产权新支线飞机-上海频道-东方新闻-东方网". Sh.eastday.com. http://sh.eastday.com/dta/ARJ21/index.html. Retrieved 2010-06-02. 
16. ^ ^{a b} "Website "Antonov": News". http://www.antonov.com/news/index.xml?news=antk-main/news_20071224.xml. 
17. ^ "ARJ21-A". AINonline. Archived from the original on 2006-02-04. http://web.archive.org/web/20060204221503/http://www.ainonline.com/Features/regionalbusaircraft/arj21a.html. Retrieved 2006-06-23. 
18. ^ "Chinese ARJ21-700 Airliner Roll-Out". http://www.deagel.com/news/Chinese-ARJ21-700-Airliner-Roll-Out_n000003364.aspx. 
19. ^ "COMAC ARJ21 - program supplier guide". Airframer.com. http://www.airframer.com/aircraft_detail.html?model=ARJ21. Retrieved 2010-06-02. 
20. ^ ^{a b c d} "Three carriers place ARJ21 orders". Flight International (Reed Business Information). 2003-09-23. http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2003/09/23/171605/Three+carriers+place+ARJ21+orders.html. Retrieved 2006-07-03. 
21. ^ "ARJ21 orderbook climbs to 41 as Xiamen signs up". Flight International (Reed Business Information). 2004-08-03. http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2004/08/03/185359/ARJ21+orderbook+climbs+to+41+as+Xiamen+signs+up.html. Retrieved 2006-07-03. 
22. ^ Although the Xiamen order for six was reported in some press as firm, ACAC's own web site still shows them as "options".
23. ^ "Ceremony inaugurates Chinese jet". Flight International (Reed Business Information). 2007-11-21. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7155452.stm. Retrieved 2008-01-02. 
24. ^ AVIC announced a new order for 100 planes from Kunpeng Airlines, a Sino-US joint venture, raising the total number of orders to date to 170.
25. ^ "Building a future: The AVIC I ARJ21-700 programme". Flight International (Reed Business Information). 2007-08-07. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/08/24/216287/building-a-future-the-avic-i-arj21-700-programme.html. Retrieved 2009-04-08. 
26. ^ By: K.K. Chadha. "China lays plans for ARJ21-900". AINonline. http://www.ainonline.com/news/single-news-page/article/china-lays-plans-for-arj21-900/?no_cache=1. Retrieved 2010-10-25. 
27. ^ "GE Commercial Aviation Services Announces Purchase of Five ARJ21-700ER Regional Jet Aircraft from Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, LTD (COMAC); Options for Additional 20 Aircraft". R. 2008-11-21. http://www.gecas.com/news20080511.asp. Retrieved 2010-07-20. 
28. ^ "China Eastern, AVIC I launch Joy Air". Flight International (Reed Business Information). 2008-04-01. http://www.avbuyer.com.cn/e/2008/22420.html. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 
29. ^ "China exporting ARJ21s and other aircraft to Indonesia". Flightglobal.com. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2010/05/21/342225/china-exporting-arj21s-and-other-aircraft-to-indonesia.html. Retrieved 2010-06-02. 
30. ^ "ARJ21 Series page". http://www.acac.com.cn/site_en/product.asp. 

External links

• ACAC Manufacturer of ARJ21
• Aerospace Technology on ARJ21
• COMAC Official website (Chinese)
• information about ARJ21-700 on COMAC's website (Chinese)