The project is part of a reported $13 billion aviation cooperation deal signed in 2014 during President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China.
The long-haul plane will be developed in Russia and assembled in China.
A special engineering center will be created in Russia to undertake technical and electronics production. The plane’s engines will be produced by Rolls Royce and GE. The production of the fuselage and the assembly of the airplanes will take place in China.
The new aircraft will be a development of the Russian-designed IL-96, according to a source from Russia’s Ministry of Trade and Industry. The 250-280 seat planes will have a range of 12,000 kilometers.
The first aircraft are expected to be completed by 2023 and to go on sale in 2025.
The new deal will become a platform for a joint venture between Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, known as Comac. The cost of the plane is estimated at $200-260 million which is similar to the American Boeing 787 Dreamliner, said Managing Director of Air Transport Observer magazine Maxim Pyadushkin.
Buy a can opener (or any other product) made in China, use it for two weeks, then tell me whether you would fly on an airliner made in China.
I do not buy airplanes.