China signed its biggest aircraft export deal, in terms of the number of jets and contract value, on Tuesday at the 7th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, Guangdong.

The Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC) will sell 25 ARJ21-700 regional jets to GE Commercial Aviation Services of the United States.

Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang, who announced the opening of the six-day airshow, attended the signing ceremony.

The deal is valued at 5 billion yuan (733 million U.S. dollars). The first jet will be delivered in 2013, with one per month thereafter.

COMAC Chairman Zhang Qingwei told Xinhua this was the first time Chinese-developed and manufactured regional jets have entered Western airline markets.

"This is an important opportunity. We are exploring China's own way of building jumbo planes," said Zhang.

Roger N. Seager, vice president of the GE Commercial Aviation Services, said his company was confident in the ARJ21 aircraft, China's aviation market and the Chinese economy at large.

"In the global economic downturn, financing is a main difficulty of all companies. Our investment in the ARJ21 shows our confidence in the manufacturer and the Chinese market," Seager told Xinhua.

Seager said more clients have shown an interest in the ARJ21. "Some customers of GE Aviation have already expressed interest. I can't tell you the names but there are Chinese customers, and European and American customers as well."

Embraer of Brazil, a major regional jet plane manufacturer on the international market, hailed the success of its Chinese competitor. A company official said the ARJ21 deal showed the broad prospects of Chinese regional jets.

The ARJ21 (Advanced Regional Jet for the 21st Century) was developed independently by China. It has 78 to 90 seats and a standard full-passenger flight can go 2,225 kilometers. A total of 206 ARJ21-700s have been ordered so far.

The regional jet will make its maiden flight in Shanghai this month.

However, regional jets are not the only thing on the agenda for COMAC, which is working to build China's own jumbo planes.

"We have more than 300 engineers and experts working in Shanghai on jumbo designs. The fundamental parameters and blueprint have been finalized," said Zhang Qingwei.

The production of the ARJ21 aircraft has provided experience for the company's research and production staff, which would be helpful for the jumbo plane project. The company also learned more about their foreign counterparts during the process of developing the ARJ21, he added.

Jumbo passenger planes refer to those with a take-off weight of more than 100 tons, or with more than 150 seats.

Currently, only the United States, Russia, France, Germany, Britain and Spain have the capability to build jumbo aircraft, with Boeing and Airbus taking the lion's share of sales on international markets.

China would not rule out the possibility of cooperating with Boeing and Airbus on its jumbo plane project, according to Zhang.

The production of jumbo aircraft is strategically significant for the country, as it would lift the country's competence on the global markets as a slew of technical breakthroughs, especially in engines, materials and electronic equipment, were to be made, according to observers.

(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2008)