China wants its own jumbo jet but lacks the necessary technology. It hopes to attract foreign companies to fill in the gaps but in the meantime it is already building its own 50-seat MA-60 for the domestic market and developing countries. Next year it will field a medium-range, 80-100-seat plane.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – China wants to build a narrow-bodied plane, seating about 150 people, to compete against Boeing or Airbus, but it needs a foreign partner with the necessary technology. China’s state council approved a plan to reach that long-term priority on February 26.

Chinese manufacturers are already making parts for both Airbus and Boeing but analysts believe that China must be able to build its own 150-seat narrow body plane like the Boeing 737 or the Airbus A320, before possibly moving on to the larger jumbo size aircrafts. Estimates for the plan’s cost are 50 billion to 60 billion yuan (US$ 6 to 8 billion) by 2020.

China may build such a plane within 20 years, said Luo Zhenan, vice secretary-general of the government-run China Aviation Industry Chamber of Commerce.

Shanghai would be the site of the civilian side of the project and Xian (Shaanxi) the military one. But Chengdu and Shenyang, both of which have a history in aviation, are also in the running.

The main problem remains setting up the company that would realise the project.

Beijing is seeking a foreign company that has the right technology to work with. It is no mystery that it would like to strike a deal with either Boeing or Airbus.

Liu Daxiang, deputy head of the Science and Technology Department at the China Aviation Industry Corp I (AVIC I), wants engines to be supplied by a foreign vendor.

“I suspect that anything the Chinese will do will actually come under some kind of a joint venture or technology sharing arrangement of some sort with either or potentially even both” Boeing and Airbus, said Derek Sabudine, chief operating officer for the Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation.

Beijing can afford large investments because it needs a plane for its domestic market. Its national air carrier Air China moved 33.97 million passengers last year, up 14.2 per cent, with a net profit of 2.7 billion yuan US$ 347 million) despite higher fuel costs. In 2006, it introduced new 35 routes. But the country is expected to need 2,230 planes between now and 2025.

Airbus’s latest forecast is even rosier with a market for 2,929 large aircraft worth US$ 349 billion between 2006 and 2025.

Meanwhile AVIC-1 has already started building a regional plane, the ARJ-21, which will carry between 78 and 105 people.

State-run China Daily reported that test flights for the ARJ-21 regional jet will take place next year and that manufacturers have received 70 orders for the plane so far. But engines and many parts will still come from foreign sources. And Beijing hopes it can do the same for its planned jumbo jet until it has developed its own technology.

AVIC-I, already builds military jets such as the new J-10 fighter and a small commercial plane, the 50-seat MA60, which it sells to domestic airliners and in developing countries.

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