The New York Times reports on China’s new jetliner that aims to compete with Airbus and Boeing:
The narrow-body, single-aisle C919 plane is scheduled to make its first voyage in 2014 before being delivered to buyers in 2016, according to Wang Wenbin, an official with the plane’s state-backed manufacturer, Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China.
Work on the prototype began last week, he said. A car-size mockup of the jet was on display Tuesday at an Asian air show in Hong Kong.
The project is a major first step by China toward developing homegrown commercial planes for its fast-growing domestic market rather than relying on foreign companies.
Watch a CCTV report on the plane.
