China to design special planes for highland airports

China Commercial Aircraft Co., Ltd. plans to launch a specially designed large aircraft based on the home-made C919 to adapt to highland airports, such as those in Tibet, according to Wu Guanghui, deputy general manager of the company.

Wu, also a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said that the special plane is projected to operate non-stop flights to Tibet from inland cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, on the sidelines of the annual CPPCC session.

At present, the flights to Tibet from inland cities have to make transfers in a nearby airport adjacent to Tibet, such as the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, according to the Beijing News.

Wu said that the design of the China-made large aircraft C919 will be completed at the year end. The 150-seat aircraft, designed mainly for domestic routes, is expected to debut its flight in 2014.

The specially designed aircraft should be lighter in weight and have a more powerful engine in line with the air density and special circumstances in the highland airports, according to Wu.

The plane C919's body equipment is entirely designed and manufactured by Wu's company and the airborne equipment like the engine is still imported. But he also added that the research on and development of domestic engines are currently under way.

The Shanghai-based China Commercial Aircraft Co., Ltd. was founded with a registered capital of 19 billion yuan (2.78 billion U.S. dollars) in 2008. As a State-owned enterprise, it aims to manufacture domestically-made large aircrafts for the country.

Source: China Tibet.
Link: http://chinatibet.people.com.cn/6917674.html.