Archive for ‘test flight’

13/05/2019

Beijing’s new airport completes 1st passenger plane test flight

BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) — Beijing Daxing International Airport completed its first test flight of passenger planes as four aircraft landed safely on the runway Monday morning.

China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Air China and Xiamen Airlines sent their flagship models A380, A350-900, B747-8 and B787-9, respectively, for the test.

“The test shows that the new airport has now turned its focus from infrastructure construction to operation preparations,” said Wan Xiangdong, chief pilot of Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The test followed the airport’s first flight of verification planes on Jan. 22 this year. The airport is scheduled to take low-visibility flight test in August and go into operation before Sept. 30.

Located 46 km south of downtown Beijing, the new airport is aimed at taking pressure off the overcrowded Beijing Capital International Airport in the northeastern suburbs. It sits at the junction of Beijing’s Daxing District and Langfang, a city of neighboring Hebei Province.

It is expected to handle 45 million passengers annually by 2021 and 72 million by 2025.

Source: Xinhua

28/12/2018

Third prototype of China’s C919 jet completes first test flight

BEIJING (Reuters) – A third prototype of China’s home-built C919 narrowbody passenger jet completed its first test flight on Friday, its manufacturer said, in another step forward in the nation’s push to become a global civil aerospace player.

The C919, which will compete with Boeing Co’s (BA.N) 737 and the Airbus SE (AIR.PA) A320, is widely regarded as a symbol of China’s civil aerospace ambition and President Xi Jinping’s policy of upgrading manufacturing capabilities.

In a statement on its official microblog, Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd (COMAC) [CMAFC.UL] said the plane landed safely at Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 12:45 p.m. (0445 GMT), having flown for 1 hour and 38 minutes.

The jet will next fly to the city of Xian in central China for more test flights with a focus on aircraft flutter and airspeed calibration, the company said.

The second prototype of the C919 jet conducted its first flight in December 2017, seven months after the maiden flight of the first C919.

COMAC said it is assembling a further three prototypes, and that all six will be scheduled to conduct flight tests next year.

The C919 has dozens of customers that have placed orders and commitments for 815 jets.

COMAC is aiming to obtain certification for the plane from Chinese regulators by the end of 2020, as well as Europe’s aviation safety regulator, which agreed in April to start the certification process.

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