United Aircraft Corporation of Russia and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) has launched a joint venture to develop a lon...
United Aircraft Corporation of Russia and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) has launched a joint venture to develop a long range twin aisle/wide-body jetliner.
The 50-50 JV named China-Russia Commercial Aircraft International Co., Ltd. (CRAIC) will be based in Shanghai, China and will develop a new generation wide body jetliner to take on the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner wide-body new generation airliners.
A scale model of the proposed aircraft has been unveiled in 2014, which resemble the Boeing 787 in external design. Both sides have confirmed a basic range of 12,000 km and 280 seats in a typical 3 class layout.
The twin engined aircraft will have both stretched and shortened fuselage versions. Final assembly of the aircraft will be carried out in Shanghai.
CRAIC plans to source parts globally to maintain the aircraft's efficiency goals and competitiveness, encouraging global players to setup local manufacturing units or through joint ventures.
One of major thrust area for the JV will be development of a suitable advanced engine in the 300-400 kN thrust class locally. Currently Russia and China does not a have engine in this class. The Russian IL-96 wide-body jetliner is powered by 4 PS-90 turbofan engines with thrust ranging from 153 to 170 kN each.
Western engines like GE GenX series, Rolls Royce Trent series and Engine Alliance GP7200 offers thrust in the similar class.
UAC and COMAC expects the aircraft to be 10-15 percent cheaper to operate than it rival Boeing and Airbus counterparts. First flight and delivery is expected during 2025 to 2028.
