China’s AVIC I Commercial Aircraft (ACAC) continues its march toward a 2008 introduction of the 85-seat ARJ21-700, finishing more or less on schedule some 90 percent of the aircraft’s structural design and 50 percent of its systems design by the end of last year. During Airshow China 2004, held in Zhuhai from November 1 to 7 (see December, page 86), the consortium also signed new contracts with components suppliers and unveiled plans for business jet and freighter variants.
Meanwhile, ARJ21 wing designer Antonov has completed wind-tunnel tests on several scaled-down models at its facility in Kiev and those of Russia’s TsAGI, the Central Flight Test and Research Institute in the Zhukovsky region of Moscow. On the eve of Airshow China 2004, Antonov declared that it finished the first part of the wind-tunnel testing and has frozen the ARJ21’s wing configuration. The Ukrainians have also issued recommendations on empennage structure improvements and received an additional wind-tunnel test contract.