Russia and China continue to develop a new airliner together

Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and its Chinese counterpart, Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), are looking to complete a feasibility study this fall for the joint development of a new widebody commercial airliner. The partners will then present its results to the governments of the two countries, the Russian daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta quoted UAC head Mikhail Pogosyan as saying in early October. Pogosyan said that the technical requirements for the new airliner would be finalized by mid-2015. The major suppliers for this Russo-Chinese program will be selected around the same time.

The joint development of the future widebody aircraft was officially launched in May this year, when Pogosyan and the chairman of the COMAC board, Jin Zhuanglong, signed a memorandum of cooperation on this program during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Shanghai. “The document signed here is the result of two years of joint work by Russian and Chinese specialists,” Pogosyan said during the ceremony, adding that the joint program was promoting the two countries’ aerospace cooperation to a new level.