Shanghai-based investment group D’Long in late June confirmed it has signed a contract for the rights to the suspended Fairchild Dornier 728 program, but an eventual relaunch of the 76-seat jet remains far from certain. According to J. Chu, manager in charge of Europe for D’Long, the investors would like to launch the 728 as a German project with Chinese participation, a strategy in line with the group’s policy to invest in partner companies around the world and to foster Chinese industry. However, Werner von Anhalt, D’Long’s newly appointed 728 program manager, said the company had no concrete plans to restart production within a given time frame.
Negotiations with various suppliers, now in their initial stages, would show if and how the project could proceed, said Von Anhalt. He declined to comment on a possible merger with the AVIC I ARJ21 project–a regional twinjet that occupies virtually the same capacity category as the 728–but said the company would entertain all options.
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