China's own regional jet may have first foreign order

SHANGHAI, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's first independently developed commercial regional jet, the ARJ-21, may be ordered for the first time by a foreign company in the near future, an official with AVIC I Commercial Aircraft company said on Thursday.

The company signed a memorandum of understanding with Lao Airlines on July 2 in which Lao Airlines agreed to buy two jets, the official said. Both parties are working on details of the deal.

Seventy-one jets have been ordered by domestic companies so far this year and another nine were expected for the remaining months of this year, the official added.

The maiden flight of ARJ-21, which is short for "advanced regional jet for the 21st century", is scheduled for March 2008 and mass production will begin in 2009.

AVIC I Commercial Aircraft company is soliciting names from the public for ARJ-21. It will stop accepting submissions on Sept. 28, and the name, which will have two to four Chinese characters, will be finalized and released at the end of December.

Chinese experts said the ARJ-21 has given China a late but powerful presence in its own commercial aviation market, which until now has been dominated by foreign aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus.