Commercial derivatives of the Y-20, China's first domestically developed strategic airlifter that is expected to enter service around 2017, will be exported to other countries, according to aviation industry insiders.

"We will develop a number of variants of the Y-20 and we are definitely going to export them," said Tang Jun, chairman of Xi'an Aircraft Industry (Group) Co, a subsidiary of Aviation Industry Corp of China, and the leading maker of the nation's large aircraft such as the H-6 bomber and MA-60 regional airliner.

Tang, a National People's Congress deputy from Shaanxi province, told China Daily on the sidelines of the ongoing annual session of the NPC, China's top legislature.