Beijing, March 19 (DPA) China has prioritised a plan to develop large passenger jets that can challenge those manufactured by global aviation majors like the Boeing and the Airbus, state media said Monday.
A high-level committee led by Premier Wen Jiabao approved in principle of the plan to develop the new aircraft.
The committee said the programme to develop passenger jets with a capacity for more than 150 seats was a "major strategic decision of the central government and a long-cherished aspiration of the Chinese people."
The top government officials said China's aviation industry was ready to develop larger planes and approved plans to set up a stock company to fund and develop the project.
A Chinese state-run aviation firm has already received 70 orders for a regional jet with a capacity for up to 105 passengers, which is scheduled to make its first flight in March 2008.
Chinese airlines are forecast to spend $280 billion on about 2,900 new planes in the next 20 years, Boeing forecast in a report last year.
The new purchases would take the total number of passenger and cargo planes in China to about 3,900 in 2025, the report said.