Comac ARJ21

The Comac C909, originally known as the ARJ21 Xiangfeng (), is a 78–90 seat regional jet manufactured by the Chinese state-owned aerospace company Comac.

Development of the ARJ21 began in March 2002, led by the state-owned ACAC consortium. The first prototype was rolled out on 21 December 2007, and made its maiden flight on 28 November 2008 from Shanghai. It received its CAAC Type Certification on 30 December 2014 and was introduced on 28 June 2016 by Chengdu Airlines. The ACAC consortium was reorganized in 2009 as part of Comac and the jet was rebranded as the C909 in November 2024.

It features a 25° swept, supercritical wing designed by Antonov and twin rear-mounted General Electric CF34 engines. By 2025, 172 airframes had been delivered.

Development

In 1985, Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Company, now a part of Comac, launched a "troubled" partnership with McDonnell Douglas to co-produce the MD-80, a similar-looking small jet aircraft. After producing 20 MD-80s, the joint venture eventually collapsed, but China refused to return the tooling used. Western analysts state that the ARJ21 is "heavily derived" from the MD-80, including its 1980s-era airframe. However, Chinese state media claim that the ARJ21 is an indigenous design.

The development of the ARJ21 (Advanced Regional Jet) was a key project in the "10th Five-Year Plan" of China. The project officially began in March 2002 and was led by the state-owned ACAC consortium. The maiden flight of the ARJ21 was initially planned to take place in 2005 with commercial service beginning 18 months later. The programme became eight years behind schedule.''C919 Inches Toward Flight-Testing, ARJ21 Toward Upgrade''
, Aviationweek, 3. November 2014
The design work was delayed and the final trial production stage did not begin until June 2006.

The first prototype (serial number 101) rolled out on 21 December 2007, with a maiden flight on 28 November 2008 at Shanghai's Dachang Airfield. The aircraft completed a long-distance test flight on 15 July 2009, flying from Shanghai to Xi'an in 2 hours 19 minutes, over a distance of 1,300 km. The second ARJ21 (serial number 102) completed the same test flight route on 24 August 2009. The third aircraft (serial number 103) similarly completed its first test flight on 12 September 2009. The fourth aircraft (CN 104) flew by November 2010. By August 2011, static, flutter and crosswind flight tests had been completed.

The ACAC consortium was reorganized in 2009 and became a part of COMAC.

Key flight tests and CAAC certification

AC104 returned to China on 28 April 2014, after completing natural-icing tests in North America. This was the first time a turbofan-powered regional jet independently developed by China had flown abroad to carry out flight tests in special weather conditions. At the same time, other flight-test aircraft covered more than 30,000 km across Asia, America, Europe, and the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Natural-icing tests are required for airworthiness certification, and conducting these tests outside China showed it was feasible to do certification tests for civil aircraft in other countries.

The first production aircraft flew on 18 June 2014. and AC104 completed an airspeed calibration flight on 30 October. Route-proving started on 29 October 2014, and AC105 made 83 flights between ten airports in Chengdu, Guiyang, Guilin, Haikou, Fuzhou, Zhoushan, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Yinchuan and Xianyang. The cumulative flight time was 173 hours and 55 minutes. By November 2014, AC104 had completed 711 flights in 1,442 hours and 23 minutes. Certification tests included stall, high-speed, noise and simulated and natural icing. AC105 returned to Yanliang airport on December 16, 2014, from Xi'an Xianyang International Airport after the last function and reliability flight. This completed the testing for the ARJ21-700 airworthiness certificate.

The ARJ21-700 received its Type Certification under Chapter 25 of the Chinese civil aviation regulations from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), on 30 December 2014. The certification program for the CAAC required 5,000 hours.
An ARJ21-700 completed a final demonstration flight on 12 September 2015 before being delivered to a customer.

Introduction

On 29 November 2015, COMAC delivered the first ARJ21-700 to Chengdu Airlines. The first commercial flight took off from Chengdu Shuangliu Airport on 28 June 2016, landing in Shanghai two hours later, one day after its commercial flight was approved by the CAAC. During the summer schedule period of 2016, i.e. until 29 October 2016, the ARJ21-700 was scheduled to operate three weekly rotations between Chengdu and Shanghai Hongqiao. 85 flight segments were operated by ARJ21 (81 by B-3321, four by B-3322).

Further developments

In June 2018 an ARJ21-700+ was proposed for 2021 with weight and drag reductions. Subsequently, a -900 stretch version was designed to accommodate 115 all-economy seats, similar to the Bombardier CRJ900, Embraer E175-E2 or Mitsubishi MRJ90.
Structurally conservative and designed for hot and high operations, the ARJ21's empty weight is higher than initially targeted in 2002, and also higher than competing aircraft. In 2018 an executive version was in final assembly and a cargo variant was proposed.

Freighter conversion program

The ARJ21 COMAC Converted Freighter (CCF) conversion program began in May 2020; the type certification and testing program was completed in December 2022 and the type certified by the CAAC on 1 January 2023.

The first two ARJ21 converted freighters (B-3329 and B-3388) were delivered to customers on 30 October 2023. The two airframes were initially delivered to Chengdu Airlines in 2018 in the passenger configuration and were subsequently withdrawn for the CCF program in 2021. Airframe B-3329 was handed over to YTO Cargo Airlines which intends to operate the type on short-haul international routes while airframe B-3388 was delivered to Air Central (based in Zhengzhou, China) for flights on domestic routes. The converted freighters have a maximum payload capacity of 10 tonnes and a range of about 1500 nautical miles (2780 km).

Production

In early July 2017, the CAAC certified the ARJ21 for mass production. On 6 March 2020, the first ARJ21 assembled at the second production line in Pudong, took its first production test flight. The second production line, with a production capacity of up to 30 jets a year, is located at the same facility that assembles the C919.

Rebranding

In October 2024, images of an ARJ21 in C909 livery emerged. Comac officially announced the rebranding at the Zhuhai Air Show in November 2024. This brings the naming in line with the convention of Comac's other two programmes, the C919 and C929.

Design

Several sources have noted that the ARJ21 closely resembles the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 and the MD-90, which were produced under licence in China. Comac states that the ARJ21 is a completely indigenous design. The ARJ21's development did depend heavily on foreign suppliers, including engines and avionics from the United States. The ARJ21 has a new supercritical wing designed by Antonov with a sweepback of 25 degrees and winglets. Some of China's supercomputers have been used to design parts for the ARJ21.

Frame

Members of the ACAC consortium, which was formed to develop the aircraft, will manufacture major framework components of the aircraft:
* Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group: construction of the nose
* Xi'an Aircraft Company: construction of the wings and fuselage; wing designed by Antonov
* Shenyang Aircraft Corporation: construction of the empennage
* Shanghai Aircraft Company: final assembly

Engine

The inflight power source of COMAC C909 is General Electric CF-34 turbofan, which is also widely used on other regional jets like the Mitsubishi CRJ and Embraer E-Jets.

Avionics

COMAC chose Collins Aerospace Pro Line 21 integrated avionics system (IAS) as their flight deck avionics solution,they also supply the FMS-4200 flight management system (FMS) for the C909, which can also be seen on Mitsubishi CRJ550/700/900/1000 regional aircraft and the weather radar.

Variants

C909 STD

The C909 STD is the baseline variant of the C909 family.

C909 ER

The C909 ER is the extended-range variant of the C909 family. It has a increased maximum takeoff weight (MTOW), maximum landing weight (MLW) and maximum taxi weight (MTW) compared to the C909 STD, therefore expanded the aircraft’s performance envelope and range capability without having to install auxiliary fuel tanks (ACT).

C909 EMJ

On February 20, 2024, it is reported that the Chinese state-owned Henan Civil Aviation Development and Investment Group ordered 6 C909 variants including the C909 EMJ.

C909 CCF

The C909 CCF (COMAC converted freighter) is designed with a maximum payload of 9,467kg and is compatible with PMC, PAG and AKE cargo containers. The first aircraft began conversion operations on 22 December, 2022 at GAMECO in Guangzhou, China. The first batch of conversions involves two C909ER RJ21-700 ERaircraft originally built and operated by Chengdu Airlines and returned to COMAC in 2021.

Operators

As of April 2025, there were 146 aircraft in commercial service.

By April 2025, 176 aircraft had been delivered to customers.

Orders and deliveries

As of 9 April 2025, Comac had 386 outstanding orders, after 23 deliveries to launch operator Chengdu Airlines who put it in service on 28 June 2016.

On 30 March 2025, COMAC announced the delivery of the first C909 aircraft to Lao Airlines. Lao Airlines thereby becomes the second operator outside China (after Indonesia's TransNusa) to take delivery of this type.

Executing orders

The following table is current as of 15 March 2025. Note that the numbers listed in the table have been obtained by cross-referencing the two web-based sources cited in the footnotes. Also note that the numbers listed are for the initial annual deliveries to (non- COMAC) commercial operators and do not necessarily reflect the number of airframes currently operated by each listed operator; as a result, the total number delivered may exceed the total number of airframes cited in the original contracts.

Reported Orders

An Indonesian airline will fly with its entire fleet consisting of 60 ARJ21 aircraft, although as of now that airline is not specified.

Specifications

* ''Notes:'' Data are provided for reference only. STD = Standard Range, ER = Extended Range
* ''Sources:'' ARJ21 Series, ICASARJ21-700 Specifications
at icas.org

See also

References

External links

ACAC Manufacturer of ARJ21
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