Civil aviation body gives safety approval to ARJ21

An ARJ21-700 regional aircraft arrives at Xi'an Yanliang Airport, April 28, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]

Production capacity for the ARJ21 will be 15 aircraft in 2015 and that number will increase by five to 10 planes every year.

COMAC's designed annual production capacity for the ARJ21 will be 50 in the future, Luo said.

It will still take 10 to 15 years for the Chinese aircraft manufacturer to become internationally competitive, some experts said.

"We still lack the global resources allocation capacity," said Zhang Yugui, dean of the school of economics and finance of Shanghai International Studies University.

Chinese passenger aircraft builders will need a long time to create an entire industrial system, covering main parts supply, quality testing and risk response systems, Zhang said.