Fri, Nov 20, 2009
Said He Would "Push" For U.S. Safety Approval
The topic of China's new ARJ21 regional jet was discussed during
President Barack Obama's summit with Chinese leaders on Tuesday.
China has reportedly been frustrated with U.S. policy restricting
trade of certain technologies, and Obama pledged he would advocate
greater technical cooperation with the Chinese. He also said he
would push for eventual safety approval of the ARJ21 commuter
jet.
But the FAA has been cool to the certification of the Chinese
jet, and that country's own safety regulators are reportedly a year
or more away from certifying the aircraft.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the FAA has forged some
good ties with the Chinese over safety concerns, data sharing, and
training programs. But FAA officials recently pulled back from
assisting The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) with
the development of the aircraft because they were concerned about a
conflict of interest when it came to eventual safety certification.
About half the ARJ21's part are manufactured in the U.S. FAA
officials declined to comment on how the President's announcement
might affect the FAA's approach to certifying the jet in the
future.
Western interest in the ARJ21 has been limited. GE said recently
that it planned to buy some of the jets, but it intended to lease
them all back to companies in China. COMAC is also developing a 160
seat commercial jet that would compete directly with existing
products from both Boeing and Airbus.
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