COMAC delivers 4th ARJ21 jets to Air China

Air China has received its fourth ARJ21 jetliner, China’s indigenouslydeveloped passenger aircraft, according to the plane’s developer.

The delivery on Sunday marked Commercial Aircraft Corp of China’s first delivery of its ARJ21 aircraft in 2021, said the state-owned commercial plane-maker.

With all-economy layout of 90 seats, the ARJ21 regional jetliner will be operated via leasing mode. Air China put its first ARJ21 into commercial operation on July 10, 2020. To date, the airline has used its ARJ21 fleet to operate air routes that link Beijing with Xilinhot, Baotou, Hohhot and Ulanhot in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Designed with a capacity of 78 to 90 seats and a range of 3,700km, ARJ21 is China’s first turbofan regional passenger jetliner.

CHINESE mainland yesterday denied accusations by Taiwan that a ban on pineapples from the island was about politics, saying it was purely a matter of biosecurity.

The mainland announced the ban last week, citing “harmful creatures” it said could come with the fruit threatening its own agriculture.

The Taiwan Affairs Office of China’s State Council said the decision was “totally rational and necessary” and that customs had a responsibility to prevent diseases carried by plants from entering the country.

“The Democratic Progressive Party authorities have deliberately misrepresented and maliciously interpreted technical issues, taking the opportunity to attack and discredit the mainland,” it said.

The DPP has neither the will nor the ability to solve practical problems, and they can only evade their own responsibility by “slandering the mainland,” it added.

NORTHEAST China’s Heilongjiang Province on Sunday saw its last COVID19 patients discharged from hospitals. The provincial Health Commission said the province now has no confirmed COVID-19 cases or asymptomatic infections.