Large plane to fly by 2020

China is expected to begin flying large, homegrown commercial aircraft by 2020, with cargo flights expected to take off slightly ahead of passenger ones, industrial insiders said yesterday.

"We envision our own planes being in the air within the next 10 to 15 years," national lawmaker and aviation expert Liu Daxiang told China Daily.

Transport planes will be introduced first, as they are easier to design and develop, he said on the sideline of the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC).