Title: Chinese C919 "Big Plane"
MSantor - October 14, 2009 10:44 PM (GMT)
Seems a Chinese company wants to rival Boeing with this monster:
| QUOTE |
China wants to rival Boeing, Airbus with its C919 'big plane' BEIJING — For now, China's big entry into the standard passenger jet business is little more than a 20-foot-long model plane on display here at Beijing Expo air show. But the model — of the planned C919, single-aisle jetliner designed to seat up to 190 passengers — represents something much larger. It's what's called the "big plane" project here. It symbolizes the country's stepped-up efforts to get into the commercial passenger jet business in a big way and challenge U.S. plane-making giant Boeing and European rival Airbus, which dominate the global jetliner market. And it will be a showcase for China's ambition to be more than a low-tech producer of consumer goods for the world. "To develop the large-scale airliner is a strategic decision of the Chinese government and one of the major programs for building up an innovation-oriented country," Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang said last month, according to the Xinhua state news agency. The model of the C919 was unveiled in August. Work on a prototype began only last month. A maiden flight isn't scheduled until 2014, and the jet won't be available commercially until 2016. Even then, it's aimed at China's domestic market rather than for U.S. or other countries' airlines. But the Chinese manufacturer already says the twin-engine, narrow-body design of the C919 is superior to the planes it would compete against: the Boeing 737, the best-selling jetliner in the world, and its competitor, the Airbus A320. Read full article at... http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/t....htm?csp=Travel |
MSantor - October 15, 2009 03:01 PM (GMT)
