China Express Airlines has received the its first ARJ21 aircraft from COMAC.
The aircraft, registered B-650P, is the first of 100 new aircraft the airline has ordered from COMAC. 50 are ARJ21 series aircraft, and the other 50 can be ARJ21 series aircraft or C919 series aircraft, depending on future discussions.
Currently China Express operates 38 Bombardier CRJ900NG and 13 Airbus A320.
China Express operates within China. Founded in 2006, it has bases in Guiyang, Chongqing, Dalian, Hohhot, Xi’an and other cities and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
It operates to over 70 airports in China.
The COMAC ARJ21 is the first short-medium range turbofan regional aircraft independently developed by China. It has a layout of 78 to 90 seats, and a range of 2,225 to 3,700 kilometers. ARJ21-700 aircraft obtained the Type Certificate from Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on December 30th, 2014 and the Production Certificate (PC) from CAAC on July 9th, 2017.
So far, over 40 ARJ21-700 aircraft are in operation. A total of 616 orders have been obtained from 23 customers.
N.B. Image credit: China Express
