COMAC (Shanghai Pudong) has been granted a production certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) for the ARJ21-700 thereby allowing for the type's mass production.
The ARJ21-700 is China's first commercial passenger jet aimed at mass production. Though it completed its type certification in 2014, only two aircraft - B-3322 (msn 105) and B-3321 (msn 106) - have been delivered to launch operator Chengdu Airlines (EU, Chengdu Shuangliu) as a result of the pending production certificate.
Since their entry into commercial service in June 2016, Chengdu Airlines has limited their reach to flights connecting Changsha Huanghua, Chengdu Shuangliu, and Shanghai Hongqiao.
As such, with production expected to kick in, COMAC estimates that it will now deliver a further five ARJ21s to Chengdu Airlines by year-end.
COMAC says the ARJ21-700 has secured orders for 413 aircraft from 19 customers.
