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Economy and Business

Shanghai builds civil aircraft final assembly base

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-12-29 11:29

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SHANGHAI: Construction of China's largest civil aircraft final assembly base began Monday in the Pudong New Area of Shanghai, said a spokesman with the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd. (COMAC).

The base, located to the south of the Shanghai Pudong International Airport, is expected to cover 2.67 million square meters, the largest of its kind in China, said Jin Zhuanglong, general manager of the COMAC.

It is designed to assemble, test and deliver ARJ21-series regional jets and 150-seat large planes. It will also shoulder the tasks of component production and aircraft maintenance, Jin said.

The first phase of the project, covering 270,000 square meters, is expected to be completed in 2012.

By 2016, the base will be able to produce 20 homegrown C919 planes and 50 ARJ21-series planes every year, he said.

The base is one of the COMAC's three key entities for large aircraft design, manufacturing and service.

The COMAC launched a design and research center and a customer service center earlier this year in Shanghai.