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Chinese aircraft exports take wing

BEIJING - Twenty China-manufactured MA60 passenger planes will enter the overseas aviation market soon. China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corp (CATIC) on Monday entered into the 2 billion yuan (US$250 million) landmark deal in Beijing with the plane's producer Xi'an Aircraft Company.

But CATIC did not reveal who the overseas buyers of the planes are. Industry insiders said they are to be exported to African countries. CATIC President Fu Shula said the deal is an "encouraging landmark" for China's aviation industry, which has dreamed of exporting for years but encountered many technical barriers placed in its way by American and European competitors. "The deal is encouraging for the nation's aviation industry," Fu said at Monday's signing ceremony in Beijing.

He said China's highest leadership has shown great enthusiasm in helping the country's aviation producers explore overseas markets. The deal was preceded by Zimbabwe's buying of two MA60 planes during Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) Wu Bangguo's tour in Africa last month.

The MA60 is a 60-seat jet aircraft. It can cover a distance of 1,600 kilometers with a full load. Its maximum speed is 504 kilometers per hour. Gao Dacheng, general manager of the aircraft company, said he is confident of the plane's performance and is certain it will convince more overseas airlines to become customers. The smaller passenger plane got the chance to enter the domestic market in April 2002 after four years' of experimental flying.

Figures with the aircraft company showed MA60 planes could save up to a third in operational costs when compared with other same-scale foreign aircraft. Gao also revealed its export targets by 2020, when his company will sell at least 300 such planes to overseas markets. By the ends of 2005, 2007 and 2010, the company plans to export 20, 50 and 100 aircraft, respectively. CATIC said such an export blueprint is practical.

(Asia Pulse/XIC)

Dec 22, 2004

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