Airshow China 2016 is expected to demonstrate clear progress in the development of the Russo-Chinese Long-Range Wide-Body Commercial Aircraft, known as the C929 or LWRBCA. This program was launched by COMAC and Russia¡¯s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) in 2014 and backed by the intergovernmental agreement signed in July between Moscow and Beijing. A scaled-down model of the new airliner is to be unveiled at the COMAC exhibit at Zhuhai on Wednesday.

The program will be managed by an equal Russo-Chinese joint venture. It will be registered in China, in Shanghai free trade zone in Pudong district, a home region of COMAC, and take upon itself the design, sales, after-sales support of the new airliner as well as the investment and financing through the project. Creation of this joint venture may mark the beginning of fullscale development.

The final assembly of the future airliner will also be located in Shanghai.

Nevertheless, the roles of each partner are still being discussed, says UAC CEO Yury Slyusar. ¡°Russia could manufacture the wing and empennage with the use of an advanced composite infusion technology, whereas our Chinese colleagues could be responsible for the fuselage and for final assembly,¡± he says.

UAC has important technology to offer COMAC notably in wing design. And COMAC brings the large Chinese domestic market to the program.

The new aircraft will be able to carry about 280 passengers for 12,000 km in basic configuration. Slyusar says the program also calls for the development of shortened and stretched v ersions.

A UAC representative says it is hoped that the LRWBCA will fly in 2021 and be certified by 2025.