China, Russia to develop new jet

Domestic aircraft manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corp of China said on Thursday that it has started work to develop a wide-body commercial jet with Russia, and the passenger plane is expected to be delivered within 10 years.

The 280-seat wide-body jet would have a range of 12,000 kilometers. The project signals the two countries' ambitions to compete in the wide-body market, which is currently dominated by US aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co and European manufacturer Airbus Group SE.

"Research and development of wide-body aircraft was launched recently," said He Dongfeng, vice-chairman and president of COMAC.