=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2003/09/18/f= inancial1322EDT0140.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, September 18, 2003 (AP) China to begin production on new regional jet by year's end CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer (09-18) 10:22 PDT BEIJING (AP) -- China's AVIC I Commercial Aircraft company has received 35 orders for its ARJ21 regional jet and will begin work on the first plane by year's end, the company said. Thirty of the planes were ordered Wednesday by China's Shandong Airlines and Shenzhen Financial Leasing Corp., the company said in a news release. Shanghai Aviation Industrial Group had earlier ordered five planes, the company said. It didn't give a date for the earlier sale. The news release didn't give the cost of the planes or the total value of the contracts, and a company spokeswoman said she had no information on pricing. The statement said test flights would begin in 2006, but no delivery date was given. The project represents an attempt to tap the projected massive demand for new planes by Chinese airlines -- estimated by Boeing at 1,900 aircraft worth $165.2 billion by 2020. Most of those planes would be single-aisle or smaller regional jets to be used on domestic routes. The ARJ21 orders "mark the plane's entry into a new stage research and development," the statement said. The 60- to 90-seat aircraft are being marketed to Chinese airlines for feeder flights, especially in and out of rugged mountain areas in the country's west. Its makers, a consortium of 15 Chinese government companies and research institutes, also intend to eventually sell it on the international market where it would compete with planes from Brazil's Embraer and other established makers. The ARJ21 will be powered by two of General Electric CF-34 turbo fans, t= he type used on hundreds of small private and regional jets. Boeing, Airbus and Antonov of the Ukraine have also contributed technology and expertise to development of the plane, whose name stands for "advanced regional jet for the 21st century." The State Council, China's Cabinet, last year announced $602 million in funding for the venture, to be based in the northern city of Xi'an. Company officials said then they expected to sell 300 of the planes within 20 years. Created in 1999 when China divided its main aircraft maker into two companies, AVIC I now produces parts for Boeing jetliners and other non-Chinese aircraft. It also makes military aircraft and the Yun-7, a smaller passenger plane based on the Antonov-24 transport that seats up to 60 and is used mainly on domestic routes. On the Net: AVIC I: www.avic1.com.cn/English/Index.htm =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP