The special mode breaks through the "growing pains", and the domestic regional aircraft ARJ21 is about to fly out of the country

On December 20, an ARJ21 aircraft (provisional registration number B-099Y) took off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport and completed a test flight of 4 hours and 26 minutes.

ARJ21 aircraft is China's first self-developed in accordance with international civil aviation regulations, with independent intellectual property rights of short- and medium-range new turbofan regional aircraft, including basic, cargo and business models and other series of models, seat level 78 ~ 90 seats, the range of 2225 ~ 3700 kilometers, mainly used to meet the use of radiation routes from the central city to the surrounding small and medium-sized cities.

Unlike all previous ARJ21 aircraft that have been delivered to domestic airlines, the ARJ21 aircraft, which is currently flying, is wearing the latest livery of Indonesia's regional airline Transnusa .

According to the reporter's understanding, Lingya Airlines will become the first overseas operator of ARJ21 aircraft, and domestic regional aircraft will soon be delivered to Lingya Airlines to start the process of exploring overseas commercial operations, and behind this is the impetus from a Chinese aircraft leasing company.

New model "Growing Pains"

The overseas order received by ARJ21 comes from the fact that China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "CHINA Aviation Leasing", 01848.HK), a subsidiary of Everbright Group, signed an agreement with COMAC to purchase 60 domesticALLY PRODUCED ARJ21 aircraft (of which 30 are confirmed orders and 30 are intended orders), which are scheduled to be delivered in phases by 2026.

Zhongfei Leasing is the actual control enterprise of Lingya Airlines. In March 2020, AVIC Leasing acquired a 35.68% stake in Lingya Airlines through indirect investment for a total cash consideration of US$28 million.

The main reason for the acquisition of Lingya Airlines is to operate domestic ARJ21 aircraft through Lingya Airlines and accumulate experience for arJ21 operations overseas.

Prior to this, Lingya Airlines mainly operated turboprop regional aircraft such as ATRs, and it was not an easy task for overseas airlines to take the initiative to order a new model.

A completely new model has a "reliability growth period" in the early stage of use, during which it usually encounters some failures and problems, and as the use of running-in increases, the reliability of the aircraft will continue to improve. But for the airlines that operate it, it faces the challenge of higher operational support costs.

Such risks also plague established aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus. Since new aircraft tend to use some new materials or new technologies, innovation brings advantages, and the risk of use will also accompany.

This is also one of the important reasons why it is relatively difficult to open up the market after the development of a new aircraft, and few airlines are willing to take on the potential risks brought by new manufacturers and new models. Therefore, since it was put into operation on June 28, 2016, the main operators of ARJ21 are still domestic airlines.

By acquiring an overseas airline to operate the ARJ21 aircraft, the "growing pains" faced by the new aircraft are solved. It is worth noting that Chengdu Airlines, the first operator of arJ21 aircraft in China, is also the majority shareholder of COMAC, the manufacturer of ARJ21.

From domestic passenger aircraft to domestic cargo aircraft

According to the reporter's understanding, after the acquisition of Lingya Airlines by ZHONGFCO Leasing, it has done a lot of work in terms of operation, including improving the corporate governance structure, cleaning up historical problems (taxation, contracts, etc.), reorganizing the international professional management and operation team, and comprehensively improving the standardization of operations; at the same time, comprehensively launching strategic transformation (low-cost operation), updating the old fleet, and improving the safety performance management system to pave the way for the first "going to sea" of the ARJ21.

In addition to promoting the ARJ21 aircraft to "go to sea" as soon as possible, as a manufacturer of ARJ21, COMAC has also continuously promoted the optimization of ARJ21 models in recent years.

At present, the ARJ21 aircraft has accumulated more than 100,000 flight hours on the routes of Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Chengdu Airlines, Tianjiao Airlines, Jiangxi Airlines and Huaxia Airlines, marking the verification of the safety and reliability of the aircraft.

In addition, the serialization of ARJ21 aircraft is also advancing. At this year's Zhuhai Airshow, COMAC and a number of domestic business jet operators, including 123 Airlines, jointly unveiled the first CBJ business jet (business ARJ21 aircraft), which is also the first time that a domestic CBJ business jet has participated in the air show and appeared in front of the public at close range.

Now, with CBJ completing the forensics, COMAC has launched the cargo ARJ21 aircraft project and started the modification work, which is expected to obtain airworthiness certification next year. Previously, Henan Aviation Investment has purchased 50 cargo aircraft from COMAC, of which 25 are confirmed orders and will become start-up users.