China's 'blue sky dream' becomes a proud reality
The Pudong assembly and manufacturing center of the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China
Once reedy marshland in the town of Zhuqiao in Pudong, Shanghai, has become the launch pad for China’s aeronautical aspirations. There, the nation’s first domestically developed narrow-body passenger jet was manufactured.
The vast assembly and manufacturing complex of Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China was built on reclaimed land in 2009, covering an area roughly equivalent to 350 football pitches.
Six years later, the first C919 airliner rolled off the assembly line, completing its maiden flight at nearby Pudong International Airport in May 2017.
The Pudong complex handles an aircraft industry chain, from research and design to manufacturing, assembly and test flights. The Pudong government said the facility is focused on China’s “blue sky dream” of developing its own the aircraft sector.
C919 single-aisle aircraft are the jewels in the crown of that ambition.
“To develop China’s own passenger aircraft demonstrates the national will,” former Premier Wen Jiabao said in 2007, when the country’s long-distance commercial aircraft project was approved.
Current Premier Li Keqiang has reaffirmed his predecessor’s commitment to creating a strong domestic aircraft industry, calling it the “pearl” of all industries.
The C919, with 168 seats and a range of 5,555 kilometers, competes for orders with Airbus and Boeing jetliners. Commercial Aircraft has won 850 orders from 30 foreign and domestic airlines for the C919.
The jetliner was showcased to a global audience at the 2020 Nanchang Flight Convention last month. China's first domestically developed regional ARJ21 jet was also on display at the air show in Jiangxi Province.
The 105 C919, which is undergoing test flights in Nanchang, performed takeoff, landing, turning and other maneuvers at the show. Professional cameras were installed in the cockpit and on the wings to livestream the jet's performance on the Internet.
Meanwhile, the CR929 passenger jet, a Sino-Russian project, has entered the detailed design phase.
A C919 takes off from the Pudong airport.
The assembly line of the ARJ21 has been moved to Pudong. China's first turbo-fan regional passenger jetliner has a range of 3,700 kilometers.
Commercial Aircraft has so far delivered 39 ARJ21s to Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Chengdu Airlines, Jiangxi Air, Urumqi Air and Genghis Khan Airlines. Orders for 600 ARJ21s have come in from domestic and international customers, the company said.
More than 1.3 million passengers have traveled on the ARJ21 via multiple Chinese carriers. Since the jet started commercial operations with Chengdu Airlines in June 2016, it has been flown on 64 domestic and international routes. Shorter-haul routes to eastern Russia, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and South Asia are planned.
Commercial Aircraft Corp was established in Shanghai in 2008, charged with the development of the C919 project. But the origins of the “blue sky dream” go back much further.
In the 1970s, China developed the 25-seat Y10, its first commercial jet. It flew for more than 170 hours in test flights between 1980 and 1984, but in the end, the project was scrubbed because of economic and political factors.
A prototype of the Y10 is on exhibit at the C919 assembly center in Pudong.
The nation’s renewed commitment to creating its own domestic industry is centered in Pudong. As construction proceeded on the Zhuqiao complex in 2009, Commercial Aircraft began shifting its prime activities to Pudong, according to Zheng Dayong, deputy general manager of the Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Co subsidiary.
An ARJ21 of Air China
Design and research and development were relocated to the Zhangjiang High-Tech Park in 2012, and the test-flight center moved to Zhuqiao in 2018.
The “blue sky dream” has extended to Lingang, an emerging development area in Pudong, with the creation of an aerospace and civil aviation industrial zone.
The southern section of Zhangjiang is home to design and development facilities for the commercial aircraft project, while other related business zones are scattered around the Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone and the former World Expo 2010 site, both in Pudong.
The Shanghai government and Commercial Aircraft signed an agreement in May 2018 to jointly develop a domestic aviation hub with global influence in Pudong. Eighteen months later, Aviation Industry Park and Large Aircraft Innovation Valley projects were launched as one of four key industries of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone.
In October a new innovation park related to aviation was announced for Lingang. More than 200 projects, with a total investment of 20 billion yuan (US$3 billion), have been signed up to move into the park. They are involved in aviation research and development, manufacturing, logistics, supply chain management and finance.
The new park, on the south side of Pudong airport, covers 25 square kilometers. Nearly a third of it lies inside the Yangshan special comprehensive bonded zone, which offers preferential governmental policies. The park is expected to generate revenue of 100 billion yuan by 2035, according to Commercial Aircraft.
A C919 narrow-body aircraft
