This Day, That Year

Item from Feb 17, 1989, in China Daily: More than $3 billion in trade has been achieved by China's main aeronautics corporation since it began selling to the world at the beginning of the 1980s.

Products for both military and civilian uses have been sold on the international market, particularly to the developing countries. ...

China has become a major player in the global aviation industry with big civilian and military aircraft programs.

It is also expected to become the world's largest aviation market in the next 20 years, according to several industry estimates.

One Chinese military aircraft that is attracting a lot of global attention is the new version of the FC-31 Gyrfalcon stealth fighter.

A test flight of the FC-31 was conducted in December, four years after Shenyang Aircraft Corp, part of State-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China, unveiled a prototype.

The twin-engine, radar-evading aircraft has better stealth capabilities, improved electronics and a larger payload capacity than the previous version.

AVIC displayed a model of the FC-31 at the Dubai Airshow in the United Arab Emirates in November 2015.

Meanwhile, China's first domestically produced large passenger aircraft - the C919 - is expected to make its maiden flight in the first half of this year.

Its developer, State-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, has almost completed the onboard systems installation as well as major integration tests, a recent report said.

The aviation sector is also getting a boost from the government.

Dozens of new civilian airports will be built by 2020 under a plan issued by the State Council, China's Cabinet, last year.