Avic, funding full-scale development of the MA700 turboprop from its own resources, now expects the type to go into service in 2018, says an industry official. The target has slipped repeatedly. In 2008, when the aircraft was only a proposal, first deliveries were forecast for 2014. The official attributes the slow progress to propulsion studies, although the absence of abundant central government funding, such as the financing enjoyed by Comac C919 program, presumably is a factor.

Privately-owned Chinese start-up Ruili Airlines will soon announce an order for Airbus A320-family aircraft, possibly next month, says a manufacturing industry source. After six years of refusing to entertain applications from new private airlines, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has given Ruili preliminary approval to begin operations, designating its fleet as six Boeing 737-700 and 737-800 aircraft. The number of A320-family aircraft in the imminent order is unknown.

China appears to be lifting its six-year ban on new private airlines, provisionally approving the establishment of a carrier in the southwestern province of Yunnan that will have no direct government links.