Even a careful observer could be forgiven for losing count of China's general aviation aircraft projects. Maybe Avic itself has lost count. So here are the latest. Cessna, already negotiating to assemble one or two business jet types at Chengdu, has concluded an almost definitive agreement to assemble the Citation XLS+ jointly with Avic's general-aviation subsidiary, Caiga.

That Bombardier's CSeries would not fly this year, as promised, has been the expectation of essentially the entire aerospace industry—except for the manufacturer. Now Bombardier has finally acknowledged the aircraft will not take off on its initial flight before the end of June 2013, but the reasons remain cloudy.

Avic President Lin Zuoming said in April that the Chinese aeronautics group's first priority was engine development. As if to show that the boss was serious, group propulsion specialist Avic Engine unveiled two new turbofans at Airshow China here last week, one of them aimed at freeing the country from reliance on foreign engines—and therefore exposure to a foreign veto—in its quest to become a major military aircraft exporter.