Shengli Airport in Shandong. Flight-
test pilots and engineers also will be
trained at the base, which Comac says
will have “a delivery, maintenance and
modifi cation capability.” It will handle
some ARJ21 fl ight-testing, as well.
Meanwhile, the ARJ21 is entering
volume production. Comac said last
month it had signed an order for 10
sets of airframe major assemblies with
the Xian branch of Avic Aircraft. Xian
builds the wing and fuselage sections
for the aircraft.
Comac must now be fairly sure of the
latest target, since it would not want to
contract for volume production until it
knew that the aircraft could be deliv-
ered according to the current design.
Under the shadow certifi cation pro-
cess, the FAA is expected to endorse
the ARJ21’s CAAC type certificate,
giving the ARJ21 regulatory accept-
ability in the markets of economically
advanced countries. But after so many
years of development, during which its
technology has aged signifi cantly, the
type is unlikely to be a hot seller inter-
nationally. For example, its engine is the
GE CF34-10, which Embraer is replac-
ing on its next series of E Jets.
For an upgrade of the ARJ21, “we
have already begun demonstration
work and will fully go ahead after the
type certifi cate has been issued,” Comac
says. “This will mainly involve reduc-
tions in weight and drag. There will also
be improvements in the avionics, fl ight
controls and anti-icing system.”
The aircraft covered by the Avic
Aircraft Xian contract will have serial
numbers 120-129. Avic Aircraft is the
large-airplane subsidiary of state aero-
nautics group Avic.
From this year, the factory is making
many “technical quality improvements”
in automatic riveting of fuselage panels,
wingbox assembly, fuselage jigs and in
detail assembly, says the branch compa-
ny’s deputy general manager, Xu Chun-
lin. These and other measures, such as
training, have greatly raised production
stability and “have made an obvious im-
provement to product quality and pro-
duction rate,” Xu is quoted as saying in
Avic’s newspaper China Aviation News.
Earlier in the program, Comac was
not satisfi ed with the quality of airframe
modules supplied from Xian for fl ight-
test aircraft. Around 2010, a problem
was a bad fi t between the center and
outer wingboxes, says an industry of-
fi cial working on the program.
Comac endorses Xu’s statement
54 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/NOVEMBER 3/10, 2014 AviationWeek.com/awst
ZHUHAI 2014Bradley Perrett BeijingT
he big news at the 2008 Air Show
China was a historic reorganiza-
tion of the Chinese aeronautics
industry. Avic I and Avic II, separated
since 1999, were to be rejoined as Avic.
Their factories would be bundled to
form focused subsidiaries such as Avi-
copter. Earlier in the year, Comac had
been split from Avic I, taking some of
the industry’s prime design and manu-
facturing capability with it.
This restructuring coincided with
the Chinese government fi nally turning
its budgetary attention to civil aircraft
manufacturing, which for decades had
played second fi ddle to military aero-
nautics and, especially, the space indus-
try. China had been launching satellites
since 1970, and in more recent years for
export customers, but Chinese civil air-
craft were rarities, even domestically.
Six years later, Avic is handling a
wide range of civil aircraft programs,with a remarkable number of mostly
secretive engine developments also
coming into view. It still has challeng-
es, however, beginning with its sheer
size: It has 400,000 employees, many
working in fi elds unrelated to building
aircraft.
The specialist subsidiaries created
focus, but at the same time the group
is quite unfocused. The great variety
of non-aviator products includes solar
panels, motorcycles and watches, which
cannot help concentrate management
attention. And the group is hardly com-
mitted to eliminating this diversity: In
August it said it would set up aviation-
themed amusement parks. It is impos-
sible to imagine a major Western aero-
space manufacturer, such as Northrop
Grumman, doing anything of the kind.
With so many workers, Avic’s man-
agers often seem more interested in
finding activities to keep people em-AIRBUSthat ARJ21 production quality has im-
proved.
The Xian factory has everything
ready for the increased rate, says Xu.
The delivery dates for the 10 aircraft
were not stated, but in the middle of
this year Comac was planning to com-
plete two ARJ21s in 2014, fi ve in 2015,eight in 2016, 15 in 2017 and 20 in 2018.
“The risk will be in going from eight to
15, especially since the C919 production
preparations will be happening at the
same time,” says the industry of cial.
Comac has been contractually
obliged to compensate suppliers for the
lateness of the program. cFocused on Variety
Six years after its reorganization,
diversifi ed Avic still faces big challenges
Avic proves its capacity for quality
by making Airbus A320 outer wings.圀漀爀氀搀䴀愀最猀⸀渀攀琀圀漀爀氀搀䴀愀最猀⸀渀攀琀
圀漀爀氀搀䴀愀最猀⸀渀攀琀