Crucially it lacks the Federal Aviation Administration certification that would allow it to fly in US skies.

Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC), China Aircraft Leasing Limited and Hong Kong-based Friedmann Pacific Asset Management said in a joint statement they had entered into “framework agreement” for the lessor to buy 30 ARJ21s, with options for 30 more.

In total the deal was worth $2.3 billion at list prices, and the aircraft would be used by an Indonesian airline, they said, without identifying the carrier.

The deal was announced on the sidelines of Britain’s Farnborough air show.

The ARJ21 — which stands for Advanced Regional Jet for the 21st century — made its first commercial flight in late June, when Chengdu Airlines flew one from its home base to Shanghai.

The plane can seat 78-90 passengers and has a range of 2,225-3,700 kilometres (1,380- 2,294 miles). State-owned COMAC previously claimed more than 270 orders for the ARJ21, mainly from domestic customers.

Another Chinese company, AVIC Leasing Co., had also signed a purchase agreement with COMAC for 30 ARJ21 aircraft, COMAC said in a separate statement, but gave no value for the deal.

COMAC rolled out the C919, China’s first domestically developed narrow-body passenger plane, in November last year as the company expands its offerings in hopes of competing against the likes of European consortium Airbus and Boeing of the United States.

China Aircraft Leasing has pledged to buy 20 of the C919 aircraft from COMAC under an agreement signed in 2011.

– AFP