100th Chinese-developed ARJ21 jetliner delivered

An ARJ21 passenger aircraft, the 2,000th aircraft leased by the Dongjiang Free Trade Port Zone (DFTP), lands at the Tianjin Binhai International Airport in north China's Tianjin, July 29, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhao Zishuo)

SHANGHAI, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- The 100th ARJ21 aircraft was delivered to its client on Thursday, bringing China's first indigenously developed passenger jetliner to a new stage of mass production and large-scale operations.

Industry insiders say the delivery of 100 ARJ21 planes shows that the operational performance of the aircraft is on par with similar, mainstream aircraft types, and that the safety and reliability of the ARJ21 have been fully tested by airlines and the civil aviation market.

Currently, the 100 ARJ21 aircraft are operating on 316 flight routes, connecting 118 cities and safely carrying nearly 6 million passengers to date, according to the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC), which developed the ARJ21.

COMAC obtained an aircraft production license for the ARJ21 issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China in June 2017. The company has an annual production capacity of 50 ARJ21 aircraft.

On Dec. 18, COMAC delivered an ARJ21 jetliner to its first overseas client, the Indonesian airline TransNusa, marking the first delivery of the Chinese-made passenger jetliner to a foreign market.