Russia Delivers Cargo Plane To China

Russia Delivers Cargo Plane To China (NSI News Source Info) BEIJING, October 29, 2008: The first Russian-made freight plane built for China by the Aviastar-SP aircraft maker has landed at Tianjin Airport, a spokesman for a Russian air company said on Tuesday. The delivery is the first of five new-generation Tu-204-120CE freight planes, powered by Rolls Royce engines and equipped with western avionics, due to be supplied to China's International Cargo Transport Ltd. under a contract signed in 2001. "The delivery of this plane as part of China's order has proved to local airlines that the Russian civil aircraft industry is alive," a spokesman for Aviaexport, involved in delivering the plane, said, adding that it would pave the way for further trade and economic cooperation with China. "It complies fully with international airspace standards, which is confirmed by certificates issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency and Civil Aviation Administration of China," Dmitry Basov said. The Tu-204 medium-range liner is manufactured by Aviastar-SP located in Ulyanovsk, central Russia. It is capable of carrying up to 28 metric tons of cargo over 4,000 km.

In order to broaden the product appeal, the Tu-204-120/220 features western avionics and engines. It is powered by 2 Rolls-Royce RB211-535 engines each with thrust of 192 kN (43,100 lbf). Cairo Aviation of Egypt became the launch operator when it took delivery of a Tu-204-120 and its cargo version the Tu-120C, in November 1998. The Tu-204-220 and Tu-220C, cargo version, is a higher gross weight variant of the basic Tu-204-120. The Tu-204-120 has a maximum take-off weight of 103 metric tons and range with 196 passenger in 2-class configuration is 4,600 km (2,500 nautical miles).