COMMERCIAL Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) said yesterday it has set up a joint venture with Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) as part of ambitious plans to jointly develop a wide-body jet.

    The joint venture, to be based in Shanghai, will start operations in 2016, COMAC said in a document released at Airshow China in Zhuhai, the country’s biggest air expo.

    The jumbo jet represents the two countries’ aim to compete in the wide-body segment, currently controlled by Europe’s Airbus Group and Boeing Co. of the United States.

    COMAC said yesterday the two firms are currently evaluating and looking globally for suppliers.

    Plans for the aircraft by the two State-controlled firms were first announced in 2014, but few details of the project have been disclosed since then. The companies said in June last year they want to begin deliveries in 2025, a target Western industry analysts consider extremely ambitious.(SD-Agencies)