Commercial operation of China-made regional jet gets a new leap

A China-made regional jet ARJ21 with a painting of "Solar Divine Bird", the emblem of Chengdu Airlines, and a nationality registration number of B-603P took off from Harbin Taiping International Airport on October 26th, 2019 and landed at Vladivostok International Airport after a flight of 1 hour and 3 minutes, indicating that ARJ21 aircraft has started to operate in the first international route, and the commercial operation of the China-made regional jet has gotten a new leap.

It is reported that two round trips will be carried out by ARJ21 on Monday and Friday every week from October 27th, 2019, and the flight number is EU1819/20. The aircraft will take off at 18:50 and land at 21:00 for the onward trip, and will take off at 21:00 and land at 22:25 for the return flight (Beijing time; flight schedule may change slightly and shall be the schedule published by the official website). At present, most flights between Harbin and Vladivostok are connecting flights, mainly through Beijing, Shanghai, and Seoul of South Korea. The opening of this route by Chengdu Airlines means that passengers from Harbin to Vladivostok have an additional non-stop flight option, and the travel has become more convenient.

Vladivostok has established a sister city relation with Harbin and maintained close exchanges with China in economy, trade, education and tourism. The opening of the this route will further strengthen the inter-city relation and provide a convenient air bridge for the two cities to strengthen economic and trade contact and personnel exchange and deepen friendly cooperation.

As China's first regional jet owning independent intellectual property right, ARJ21 aircraft can especially meet the requirements of take-off and landing at the airports in western & northern regions of China and obstacle clearance along complex routes. The opening of the round-trip route between Harbin and Vladivostok by Chengdu Airlines will give full play to the superior feeder performance of ARJ21 aircraft in 1- to 1.5-hour flight circle, and will also verify the ability of ARJ21 aircraft to operate in international routes, which is a new breakthrough for Chengdu Airlines to explore the commercial operation mode of air routes, and is also a concrete measure to serve the comprehensive revitalization strategy of northeast China.

Since the first commercial flight of ARJ21 aircraft, Chengdu Airlines has carried more than 540,000 passengers, serving 28 cities. An airline network taking Chengdu as the main operating base, and Changsha and Harbin as the overnight base and covering the major cities throughout the country has been formed. Especially in northeast China, a trunk and regional airline network radiating the region has been formed, and large-scale commercial operation has been initially achieved. At present, Chengdu Airlines owns a fleet of 47 aircraft, including 15 ARJ21 aircraft.

Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC) has adhered to the principle of being customer centered, striven to improve aircraft design and performance, actively carried out management innovation and process optimization, and promoted the acceleration of batch production. Up to now, COMAC has delivered 19 ARJ21 aircraft to customers. Through lean production management, the company has continuously improved the overall efficiency of work stations and the efficiency of skilled workers, and also promoted production management innovation from the aspects such as technology, field management and production operation control. The batch production rate of ARJ21-700 aircraft from January to September 2019 has been increased by 76.9% compared with the same period of 2018. COMAC will adhere to the principles of safe development and high-quality development, strive to provide customers with safe and reliable products, vigorously promote high-quality development of regional aviation in China, and contribute to the construction of civil aviation power in the new era.