Homegrown ARJ21 begins ultra high-altitude demonstration flights in Sichuan

China's first domestically developed regional passenger jet, the ARJ21, began its month-long ultra high-altitude demonstration flights in Sichuan province on Wednesday.

The plane will fly around the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau to fully verify the adaptability of the aircraft model to high-altitude airports and routes.

The ARJ21 aircraft, operated by its developer Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, or COMAC, departed from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport on Wednesday morning and arrived at Aba Hongyuan Airport in Sichuan after 50 minutes of flight.

During the period of demonstration flights, the ARJ21 will take Chengdu, Sichuan; Xining, Qinghai province; and Lhasa, Xizang autonomous region as operating bases, and fly to several high-altitude airports in Xizang, Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu, COMAC said.

The demonstration flights will help fully verify the adaptability of the ARJ21 aircraft to high-altitude airports and routes, its adaptability to airport ground service and equipment, and its applicability to special flight procedures, thus better meeting the operational requirements of high-altitude regions, COMAC said.

Airports located at an altitude of 2,438 meters or above are regarded as ultra high-altitude airports, and China has 25 such airports, accounting for more than half of the total such airports globally with a runway length of over 2,000 meters, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

High-altitude regions face conditions such as sparse oxygen supply, complex terrain and ever-changing weather. The requirements for aircraft performance, crew qualifications and operational support capabilities are extremely high, the CAAC said.

In the past few years, the demand for civil aviation transportation in high-altitude regions has been growing, and the demand for aircraft that can adapt to high-altitude airports and routes is also increasing.

The design of the ARJ21 aircraft has taken high-altitude performance as an important indicator, and the month-long demonstration flights will help lay the foundation for homebuilt aircraft to launch more high-altitude routes, COMAC said.