First International Sale of the COMAC ARJ21 Regional Jet.
The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC) has for the first time inked a deal to sell one of its aircraft to an airline outside of China, the COMAC ARJ21 regional jet to Indonesian carrier TransNusa.
This is a major milestone and reinforces the fact that China is becoming a very relevant force in the airliner manufacturing space. To date, the COMAC ARJ21 regional jet has been sold and operated exclusively on China's domestic networks by airlines such as Chengdu Airlines (launch customer), OTT Airlines (Subsidiary of China Eastern Airlines), China Express Airlines, China Southern Airlines, China Flight General Aviation Company (CFGAC), Genghis Khan Airlines and Jiangxi Air.
Who is the international launch customer of the COMAC ARJ21 Regional Jet?
Indonesia's PT TransNusa Aviation Mandiri, more simply known as TransNusa is a regional domestic airline with routes concentrated in the eastern part of the country. It is based in Kupang on the island of Timor and services destinations in Nusa Tenggara, Timor and South Sulawesi. TransNusa was inaugurated in August 2005 using aircraft chartered from Pelita Air and Trigana Air Service and gained its own operator licence in August 2011.
TranNusa started operations with destinations in South Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara and Timor.
Throughout its life, TranNusa has forged various business partnerships with other operators, acting as a feeder airline for other carriers as well as leasing or block-buying seats on carriers such as Aviastar, Indonesia Air Transport, Sriwijaya Air and Riau Airlines.
Aircraft operated by TransNusa include Fokker 28s, Fokker 50s, ATR 42-300s. These aircraft were leased from Trigana, Pelita Air and Riau Airlines.
TransNusa has operated various aircraft including this ATR-600.
Over the period 2017 - 18, TransNusa bought four new aircraft of their own, three ATR 72-600s and an ATR 42-500. By 2019 the airline boasted a fleet of 1 BAe 146 and 7 ATRs with 3 ATRs about to be delivered. Things were looking good for TransNusa with various safety awards having been achieved. Then Covid hit.
Like most places in the world, Covid changed travel in Indonesia. As a result, TransNusa decided to temporarily cease operations in September 2020 and returned aircraft to their lessors.
A restart for TransNusa.
In November 2021, TransNusa announced it was coming back. This time the airline would reinvent itself as a Low-Cost Carrier (LCC) with a restart set for February 2022. A recent investment in the airline by China Aircraft Leasing Company (CALC) to the tune of 35.68% has been responsible for the change in strategy. No doubt this change is also responsible for the decision to lease 30 ARJ21s.
What is the COMAC ARJ21 Regional Jet?
The Comac ARJ21 Xiangfeng (Chinese for Rising Phoenix), is a twin-jet airliner with engines mounted on each side of the rear fuselage. The ARJ21 (Advanced Regional Jet) began development in March 2002 with the first prototype rolling out on 21 December 2007. CAAC type certification was achieved on 30 December 2014.
The project for various reasons fell behind and certification was eventually 8 years behind target. Testing in cold climate and ice conditions was actually conducted in North America with many of the proving flights conducted around the world.
Chengdu Airlines was the launch customer of the COMAC ARJ21.
The ARJ21 does depend heavily on imported technology and parts, such as engines by General Electric and the wing designed by Antonov of Ukraine. China maintains that the design has been done completely in China by supercomputers, however, there are those who are keen to point out the similarities with the McDonnell-Douglas MD-80 and MD-90. The MD-80 and MD-90 were licenced to be built in China, and tooling for those airframes was left in China.
Chengdu Airlines was the first to receive the ARJ21 and took delivery on 29 November 2015. They commenced commercial services on 28 June 2016 with a flight from Chengdu Shuangliu Airport to Shanghai.
Mass assembly of the ARJ21 will enable 30 units to be produced per year and is located in the same facility as the COMAC C919 production plant in Pudong, Shanghai.
The TransNusa Deal.
The ARJ21 deal calls for 30 aircraft to be delivered with an option for 30 more in the future. The delivery of February 2022 looks like it might be on time, as an ARJ 21 in TransNusa colours has been seen at Shanghai's Pudong airport.
This is an important step for COMAC as it can now show that their aircraft are relevant in the non-Chinese market as well.
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