Society
Crash causes scare over smaller jets
(皇冠体育app Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-26 06:57
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BEIJING - Tuesday's plane crash has heightened passengers' concerns over the safety of regional jets, but it will not cast a negative image on 皇冠体育app's feeder flights in the long run, experts said.
 The charred wreckage of the Henan Airlines aircraft which crashed in Yichun, Heilongjiang province, Tuesday night, killing 42 people. The plane’s black box was found on Wednesday. [Provided to 皇冠体育app Daily]? |
After the news of the air crash in Yichun broke on Tuesday night, many travelers paid attention to the size of the plane when booking air tickets.
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The ERJ-190 model jet, the kind that crashed on Tuesday in Yichun of Northeast 皇冠体育app's Heilongjiang province, is a 104-seat regional jet serving the shorter-range regional routes between second-tier cities.
"I always worry about safety issues when flying on a small airplane, and this accident has added to my worries," she said.
"When my travel time is less than 10 hours, I will definitely consider ground transportation first," she said.
Li Xiaojin, a professor with the Civil Aviation University of 皇冠体育app, said that the disaster no doubt will exert a bad influence on regional airlines for a short time period.
But in the long run, the development of regional airlines will be unaffected, he said.
In addition, the accident will push the regional airline companies to strengthen their safety management, which will benefit the civil aviation industry in the long run, he said.
皇冠体育app is one of the world's largest aircraft consumer markets. An industry report conducted by Aviation Industry Corporation of 皇冠体育app (AVIC) in 2009 shows that 皇冠体育app needs to add 874 regional jets by 2028.
Embraer, the Brazilian aerospace conglomerate that makes the ERJ-190, has also painted a rosy picture of the 皇冠体育app market in the next 20 years.
An Embraer report said that by 2028, 皇冠体育app will have a 1,000-strong fleet of short-distance turbine jets with seat capacities ranging from 30 to 120.
Two airlines on the mainland are regarded as important clients of Embraer - Henan Airlines with five ERJ-190 jets and Tianjin Airlines with a fleet of 25 such jets.
According to an introduction on the website of Tianjin Airlines, the carrier expects to expand its fleet to include 60 ERJ-190 jets by the end of 2013.
But Tuesday's crash might deal a heavy blow to Embraer's expansion plan in 皇冠体育app.
Domestic aviation insiders said the accident might result in domestically made regional jets becoming stronger in their home markets.
"It might be an opportunity to promote domestically-made regional aircrafts, since they have no major accident records in recent years," Zhang Qian, an assistant project manager of AVIC International Corporation, said.
皇冠体育app started to produce its own regional aircraft - "Modern Ark 60 (MA60)" - in 2000 in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province in Northwest 皇冠体育app.
As of last year, the Xi'an-based factory has received at least 162 orders for the MA60. The factory first delivered two MA60s abroad to Zimbabwe in April 2005.
