China’s ARJ21 Jet Completes High-Altitude Tests at World's Highest Civil Airport
Tang Shihua
DATE:  Jul 30 2020
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
China’s ARJ21 Jet Completes High-Altitude Tests at World's Highest Civil Airport China’s ARJ21 Jet Completes High-Altitude Tests at World's Highest Civil Airport

(Yicai Global) July 30 -- A regional jet developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China has successfully completed test flights at the world’s highest civil airport, paving the way for the opening of more high-altitude commercial routes in the future.

The ARJ21 jet completed take-off, landing and cruising test flights over a two-week period at the Daocheng Yading Airport in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in southwestern Sichuan province, demonstrating its reliability and performance in high-altitude conditions, state broadcaster China Central Television reported today.

The thin air, complex terrain and changeable weather patterns that are a feature of plateau airports such as Daocheng Yading, which stands at an altitude of 4,411 meters, make them much more difficult to access. Airports with an altitude of 2,438 meters and above have higher requirements for aircraft performance and call for greater operational support facilities.

China has 19 airports on high plateaus, the most in the world, which are mainly situated in its western regions. The ARJ21 aircraft had already undergone altitude tests at Golmud Airport, which stands at 2,842 meters, and Huatugou Airport, with an altitude of 2,905 meters. Both are situated on the Tibetan plateau in northwestern Qinghai province.

Shanghai-based COMAC had delivered 33 ARJ21 jets as of July 20. The aircraft has a range of up to 3,700 kilometers and a maximum passenger capacity of 90 seats. It has been flying domestic commercial passenger routes since June 2016, and started its first international route from Harbin in Heilongjiang province to Vladivostok, Russia in October last year.

Editor: Kim Taylor

Follow Yicai Global on
Keywords:   Test Flight,High Altitude Airport,ARJ21,Regional Aircraft,COMAC