This is vitally important both to China and the air manufacturing industry.
The ARJ-21 series of large passenger jets offers serious competition to a field that is currently dominated by just a handful of firms in the Western hemisphere.
Boeing and the European consortium Airbus are the sole manufacturers of large commercial aircraft (125 to 650+ seats), while Canada’s Bombardier and Embraer of Brazil vie to supply regional jets in the 35- to 125-seat capacity.
The ARJ-21 is perhaps Asia’s best and strongest hope to date for finally penetrating this tight market.
The Chinese government appears to be strongly committed to seeing the ARJ-21 through to fruition, not only by adequately funding the project and working to ensure domestic (and even overseas) orders, but also by restructuring the Chinese aircraft industry so it can expand and become globally competitive in the commercial jet sector.
Ironically, whereas in the past (and even up to the present), Chinese aerospace firms often have served as subcontractors to Boeing and Airbus, foreign companies are now vying to become suppliers and subcontractors to the Chinese aviation industry.
Asia Times said that o develop and build the ARJ-21, China cobbled together several competing aircraft manufacturing groups into a single consortium, known initially as the AVIC I Commercial Aircraft Company.