A joint venture firm responsible for China's large airplane project will be set up in March, a senior official said yesterday.

It will be funded by the State Council, local governments and aviation industrial groups, Huang Qiang, secretary-general and spokesman for the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND), told a press conference in Beijing.

The company will be responsible for designing and manufacturing both the large commercial plane and the ARJ21 regional jets, he said.

"The percentage of the shareholding is still being calculated," he said, declining to reveal the total investement.

Different from other major projects, Huang said the large plane project starts with "reforming the aviation industry", which means consolidating resources in the industry and carrying out strategic and professional restructuring.

"It will be a major structural adjustment in the development of the aviation industry. It will also provide experiences for the reform of the national defense technology industry," he said.

A detailed plan of the reform has been drafted by the COSTIND and is awaiting approval by the State Council and National People's Congress.

However, industry sources earlier told China Daily that AVIC I and AVIC II, the country's two State-owned aviation manufacturers, are likely to be consolidated, to "strengthen the country's aviation manufacturing capabilities" and "pool resources to carry out the large commercial airplane project".

Huang also said the large plane project will have a chief commander and a chief designer who will be responsible for administrative and technical matters.

China plans to produce a homegrown passenger jet with at least 150 seats to challenge Boeing and Airbus in the fast-growing aviation market.

The government approved the project last year and the aircraft is expected to take off by 2020. The project is part of its 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10).

(China Daily January 8, 2008)