Selling an all-Chinese made jet is not easy. First, there is a lot of competition out there. Secondly, many passengers, when a choice is available, chose another aircraft.One way of getting people to travel on them is to use incentives which means cheaper fares or forced choice.
Officials from China’s Civil Aviation Administration have said in Xi’an that in order to support the development of China’s aviation industry, the administration was considering relaxing examination and approval procedures for the establishment of regional airlines that plan to purchase China-made aircraft.
In other words, if you want to start a regional airline in China, it is going to be a lot easier to do it if, from the start, you use Chinese aircraft. They may not be ideal for the routes you have in mind, but they will make starting up much easier.
The MA 60 has 50 seats and the ARJ 21 has between 70 and 90 seats. The ARJ 21 has been specifically designed to work at very high altitudes with an ability to service Llhasa being one of its requirements.
The MA 60 has been on the market for about 10 years and although orders have been received for 161 MA 60 aircraft and they have been exported in batches (not to airlines or countries which spring readily to the lips) they were not warmly received by China’s domestic market.
At present, there are only a few MA 60 aircraft operating in China.
People’s Daily Online said the ARJ 21 is a China-made jet which has yet to obtain the Airworthiness Certificate. It will certainly be under huge pressure from giant foreign regional aircraft manufacturers like Brazil’s Embraer and Canada’s Bombardier Aerospace.
Whatever incentives that can be provided to sell the two Chinese-made aircraft will not only be welcome. They will be damn near essential.
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