SHANGHAI: Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd (COMAC), which is in charge of the indigenous C919 passenger airplane program, yesterday said it has started work on the final assembly line at Pudong New Area in Shanghai and expects it to be operational by 2012.

The assembly line is located south of the Pudong International Airport and spread over an area of 267 hectares. The Pudong assembly base will provide facilities support to both regional jets and giant planes during test flights, general assembly and aircraft delivery.

COMAC expects the single-aisle C919 passenger airplane, the equivalent of the Boeing 737 or Airbus 320, to make its maiden flight in 2014 before being delivered to buyers in 2016. The company plans to manufacture 20 homegrown C919 jets and 50 ARJ 21-series planes annually by 2016