The Comac ARJ21 Xiangfeng () is a 78–90 seat
regional jet
A regional jet (RJ) is a jet-powered regional airliner with fewer than 100 seats. The first one was the Sud-Aviation Caravelle in 1959, followed by the widespread Yakovlev Yak-40, Fokker F-28, and BAe 146. The 1990s saw the emergence of th ...
manufactured by the Chinese state-owned aerospace company
Comac
, type = State-owned limited company
, industry = Aviation
, founded =
, founder =
, location_city = Pudong, Shanghai
, location_country = China
, area_served = Worldwide
, products = Commercial airliners
, services =
, key_people ...
.
Development of the ARJ21 (Advanced Regional Jet) began in March 2002, the first prototype was rolled out on 21 December 2007, and made its maiden flight on 28 November 2008 from Shanghai.
It received its
CAAC
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC; ) is the Chinese civil aviation authority under the Ministry of Transport. It oversees civil aviation and investigates aviation accidents and incidents. As the aviation authority responsible fo ...
Type Certification on 30 December 2014 and was introduced on 28 June 2016 by
Chengdu Airlines
Chengdu Airlines Co., Ltd. (), a subsidiary of Sichuan Airlines, is an airline headquartered in Shuangliu District, Chengdu, China. It operates a network of scheduled domestic passenger flights out of its hub at Chengdu Shuangliu International ...
.
Resembling the
McDonnell Douglas MD-80
The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gene ...
/
MD-90
The McDonnell Douglas (later Boeing) MD-90 is an American five-abreast single-aisle airliner developed by McDonnell Douglas from its successful model MD-80. The airliner was produced by the developer company until 1997 and then by Boeing Com ...
produced under licence in China, it features a 25°
swept,
supercritical wing designed by
Antonov
Antonov State Enterprise ( uk, Державне підприємство «Антонов»), formerly the Aeronautical Scientific-Technical Complex named after Antonov (Antonov ASTC) ( uk, Авіаційний науково-технічни ...
and twin rear-mounted
General Electric CF34
The General Electric CF34 is a civilian high-bypass turbofan developed by GE Aircraft Engines from its TF34 military engine. The CF34 is used on a number of business and regional jets, including the Bombardier CRJ series, the Embraer E-Jets ...
engines. 66 aircraft had been delivered by the end of 2021.
Development
![ARJ21](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/ARJ21.png)
The development of the ARJ21 (Advanced Regional Jet) is a key project in the
"10th Five-Year Plan" of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. It began in March 2002 and was led by the state-owned
ACAC consortium The AVIC I Commercial Aircraft Company (ACAC consortium; ) was a subsidiary of China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I), formed in 2002 by various Chinese aviation companies, including:
* Shanghai Aircraft Design and Research Institute
* 60 ...
. The maiden flight of the ARJ21 was initially planned to take place in 2005 with commercial service beginning 18 months later.
The programme became eight years behind schedule.
[''C919 Inches Toward Flight-Testing, ARJ21 Toward Upgrade''](_blank)
, Aviationweek, 3. November 2014
The design work was delayed and the final trial production stage did not begin until June 2006.
The first prototype (serial number 101) rolled out on 21 December 2007, with a maiden flight on 28 November 2008 at Shanghai's Dachang Airfield. The aircraft completed a long-distance test flight on 15 July 2009, flying from
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
to
Xi'an
Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...
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.
The fourth aircraft (CN 104) flew by November 2010. By August 2011, static, flutter and crosswind flight tests had been completed.
The ARJ21 is a small jet aircraft that looks similar to the MD-80, which was licensed to be built in China. COMAC claims that it is an original design, part of which was created by supercomputers in China. The ACAC consortium was reorganized in 2009 and became a part of
COMAC
, type = State-owned limited company
, industry = Aviation
, founded =
, founder =
, location_city = Pudong, Shanghai
, location_country = China
, area_served = Worldwide
, products = Commercial airliners
, services =
, key_people ...
.
Key flight tests and CAAC certification
AC104 returned to China on April 28, 2014, after completing natural-icing tests in North America. This was the first time a turbofan-powered regional jet independently developed by China had flown abroad to carry out flight tests in special weather conditions. At the same time, other flight-test aircraft covered more than 30,000 km across Asia, America, Europe, and the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Natural-icing tests are required for airworthiness certification, and conducting these tests outside China showed it was feasible to do certification tests for civil aircraft in other countries.
The first production aircraft flew on 18 June 2014.
and AC104 completed an airspeed calibration flight on October 30. Route-proving started on October 29, 2014, and AC105 made 83 flights between ten airports in Chengdu, Guiyang, Guilin, Haikou, Fuzhou, Zhoushan, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Yinchuan and Xianyang. The cumulative flight time was 173 hours and 55 minutes. By November 2014, AC104 had completed 711 flights in 1,442 hours and 23 minutes. Certification tests included stall, high-speed, noise and simulated and natural icing. AC105 returned to
Yanliang airport on December 16, 2014, from
Xi'an Xianyang International Airport
Xi'an Xianyang International Airport is the main airport serving Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, as well as the whole Guanzhong area. Covering an area of , it is the largest airport in Northwest China, and the second largest airport in Northern C ...
after the last function and reliability flight. This completed the testing for the ARJ21-700 airworthiness certificate.
The ARJ21-700 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.
The certification program for the CAAC required 5,000 hours.
[
An ARJ21-700 completed a final demonstration flight on 12 September 2015 before being delivered to a customer.
]
Introduction
On 29 November 2015, COMAC delivered the first ARJ21-700 to Chengdu Airlines
Chengdu Airlines Co., Ltd. (), a subsidiary of Sichuan Airlines, is an airline headquartered in Shuangliu District, Chengdu, China. It operates a network of scheduled domestic passenger flights out of its hub at Chengdu Shuangliu International ...
. The first commercial flight took off from Chengdu Shuangliu Airport on June 28, 2016, landing in Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
two hours later. one day after its commercial flight was approved by the CAAC. During the summer schedule period of 2016, i.e. until October 29, 2016, the ARJ21-700 was scheduled to operate three weekly rotations between Chengdu and Shanghai Hongqiao. 85 flight segments were operated by ARJ21 (81 by B-3321, four by B-3322).
Further developments
In June 2018 an ARJ21-700+ was proposed for 2021 with weight and drag reductions. Subsequently, a -900 stretch version was designed to accommodate 115 all-economy seats, similar to the Bombardier CRJ900
The Bombardier CRJ700, CRJ900, and CRJ1000 are a family of regional jet airliners that were designed and manufactured by Canadian transportation conglomerate Bombardier (formerly Canadair) between 1999 and 2020. Their design was derived from t ...
, Embraer E175-E2 or Mitsubishi MRJ90
The Mitsubishi SpaceJet (, originally named ''Mitsubishi Regional Jet'') is a regional jet developed by Japanese company Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation (MAC), a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) subsidiary. The airframe is made mainly in alum ...
.
Structurally conservative and designed for hot and high
In aviation, hot and high is a condition of low air density due to high ambient temperature and high airport elevation. Air density decreases with increasing temperature and altitude. The lower air density reduces the power output from the airc ...
operations, the ARJ21's empty weight is higher than initially targeted in 2002, and also higher than competing aircraft. In 2018 an executive
Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to:
Role or title
* Executive, a senior management role in an organization
** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators
** Executive dir ...
version was in final assembly
Assembly may refer to:
Organisations and meetings
* Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions
* General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...
and a cargo
Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...
variant was proposed.
Production
In early July 2017, the CAAC certified the ARJ21 for mass production. On 6 March 2020, the first ARJ21 assembled at the second production line in Pudong, took its first production test flight.[ The second production line, with a production capacity of up to 30 jets a year, is located at the same facility that assembles the ]C919
The Comac C919 is a narrow-body airliner developed by Chinese aircraft manufacturer Comac.
The development program was launched in 2008. Production of the prototype began in December 2011, with the first prototype being ready on 2 November 201 ...
.
Design
Different sources claim the ARJ21 closely resembles either the McDonnell Douglas MD-80
The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gene ...
or the MD-90
The McDonnell Douglas (later Boeing) MD-90 is an American five-abreast single-aisle airliner developed by McDonnell Douglas from its successful model MD-80. The airliner was produced by the developer company until 1997 and then by Boeing Com ...
which were produced under licence in China. Comac states that the ARJ21 is a completely indigenous design. The ARJ21's development did depend heavily on foreign suppliers, including engines and avionics from the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. The ARJ21 has a new supercritical wing
A supercritical airfoil (supercritical aerofoil in British English) is an airfoil designed primarily to delay the onset of wave drag in the transonic speed range.
Supercritical airfoils are characterized by their flattened upper surface, highly ...
designed by Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
's Antonov
Antonov State Enterprise ( uk, Державне підприємство «Антонов»), formerly the Aeronautical Scientific-Technical Complex named after Antonov (Antonov ASTC) ( uk, Авіаційний науково-технічни ...
Design Bureau with a sweepback
A swept wing is a wing that angles either backward or occasionally forward from its root rather than in a straight sideways direction.
Swept wings have been flown since the pioneer days of aviation. Wing sweep at high speeds was first investigate ...
of 25 degrees and winglets
Wingtip devices are intended to improve the efficiency of fixed-wing aircraft by reducing drag. Although there are several types of wing tip devices which function in different manners, their intended effect is always to reduce an aircraft' ...
. Some of China's supercomputers
A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instructions p ...
have been used to design parts for ARJ21.
Manufacturers
Members of the ACAC consortium, which was formed to develop the aircraft, will manufacture major components of the aircraft:
* Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group
The Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group (CAIG) or Chengdu Aerospace Corporation (CAC), a subsidiary of AVIC, is a Chinese aerospace conglomerate that designs and manufactures combat aircraft and is also a manufacturer of aircraft parts. It was fou ...
: construction of the nose
* Xi'an Aircraft Company: construction of the wings and fuselage; wing designed by Antonov State Company in Ukraine.
* Shenyang Aircraft Corporation
Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) or Shenyang Aerospace Corporation is a Chinese civilian and military aircraft manufacturer located in Shenyang, Liaoning, a subsidiary of the state-owned aircraft manufacturer AVIC. Founded in 1951 as the cl ...
: construction of the empennage
The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...
* Shanghai Aircraft Company: final assembly
* General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
: CF-34 turbofan
* Rockwell Collins
Rockwell Collins was a multinational corporation headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, providing avionics and information technology systems and services to government agencies and aircraft manufacturers. It was formed when the Collins Radio Comp ...
: Avionics
* Various domestic and international suppliers of component's suppliers.
Variants
;ARJ21-700
:Baseline model which has a capacity of 70 to 95 passengers.
;ARJ21-900
:Stretched fuselage model based on the ARJ21-700, 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 five 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.
Operators
As of October 2018, there were six aircraft in commercial service with an average monthly utilization rate of around 30 hours.
By the end of 2021, 66 aircraft had been delivered to customers.
Orders and deliveries
As of 31 August 2018, Comac had 221 outstanding orders, after 23 deliveries to launch operator Chengdu Airlines
Chengdu Airlines Co., Ltd. (), a subsidiary of Sichuan Airlines, is an airline headquartered in Shuangliu District, Chengdu, China. It operates a network of scheduled domestic passenger flights out of its hub at Chengdu Shuangliu International ...
who put it in service on 28 June 2016.
Executing Orders
The following table is current as of 20 December 2022. Note that the numbers listed in the table have been obtained by cross-referencing the two web-based sources cited in the footnotes. Also note that the numbers listed are for the year of initial deliveries of airframes to (non-COMAC
, type = State-owned limited company
, industry = Aviation
, founded =
, founder =
, location_city = Pudong, Shanghai
, location_country = China
, area_served = Worldwide
, products = Commercial airliners
, services =
, key_people ...
) commercial aerial services operators and do not necessarily reflect the number of airframes currently operated by each such operator; as a result, the total number delivered may exceed the total number of airframes cited in the original contracts.
Reported Orders
An Indonesian airline will fly with its entire fleet consisting of 60 ARJ21 aircraft, although as of now that airline is not specified.
Specifications
* ''Notes:'' Data are provided for reference only. STD = Standard Range, ER = Extended Range
* ''Sources:'' ARJ21 Series, ICASARJ21-700 Specifications
at icas.org
See also
References
External links
ACAC Manufacturer of ARJ21
*
*
*
{{AVIC Aero Products
Comac aircraft
2000s Chinese airliners
Twinjets
T-tail aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 2008