China's Harbin Aviation Team To Produce StarLiner 100

Alliance Aircraft Ltd of the USA and Harbin Aviation Industries Group of the Chinese AVIC II Group announced Monday a joint partnership agreement to design, build and market a new family of regional jets called the StarLiner 100. For its investment in the program, Harbin also acquired an undisclosed holding in AAL.

According to Earl J. Robinson, founder and chief operations executive of Alliance Aircraft, the StarLiner 100 will bring to the market a totally new, purpose built jet aircraft that will meet the regional transport needs of airlines and corporations. The company is hoping to win sales with airlines that have pending orders for regional jets from other manufacturers, or have delayed placing orders because of long waiting lists for regional jets. The current delivery backlog for regional jets stands at around 1,500 planes.

According to Robinson, StarLiner 100 is based on a "family concept" consisting of three versions offering 35-, 44- and 50-seat configurations. All will use common cockpit, wings and empennage, with type specific fuselage plugs fore and aft of the wing.

AVIC II's Harbin Aviation Industries Group will assemble the 35-seat version at Harbin, China, while the 44- and 50-seat versions will be assembled in the U.S.. Design, engineering and certification will be a joint effort conducted out of Alliance Aircraft corporate offices in Martinsburg, West Virginia. First flight is planned for 2003 with initial deliveries to customers in China in the fourth quarter of 2004. The company forecasts a market for 300 aircraft of this class in China.