ARJ21 Delays Threaten C919 Schedule
By Leithen Francis, Bradley Perrett
September 12, 2011
Leithen Francis/Singapore and Bradley Perrett/Beijing
Call it a case of being let down by one's older brother: New delays in the certification of the Comac ARJ21 regional jet could force the development of the C919 mainline commercial aircraft to be prolonged.
The FAA is insisting its shadow certification effort on the ARJ21 be completed before the agency begins work on the C919. But the C919 is already near the point at which a certification agency needs to be brought in; if the project advances much further without the FAA's involvement, the U.S. regulator may decide it can never become involved.
Moreover, Comac has shifted scarce engineers to help sort out the ARJ21's problems at a time when the C919 is already running a few months late. Since FAA endorsement of the C919's Chinese certification is indispensable to the international sales prospects of the 156-seat, six-abreast aircraft, the brewing crisis again raises questions about China's decision to throw its inexperienced industry into development of a second indigenous airliner before finishing its first, the ARJ21. Indeed, the C919 was launched in May 2008, six months before the ARJ21 even flew.
