Business news with words aircraft+civil+department. 2 news.

CHINA will begin research on a larger version of its first homemade passenger jet Xiang Feng after its first flight next year, Shanghai Securities News reported yesterday. The China Aviation Industry Corporation I, better known as AVIC I, will cooperate with Canada's Bombardier to initiate the research, the report said. Talks between AVIC I and Bombardier are going smoothly, but the final design of the new jet is still under discussion, the report quoted Wang Weiya, the head of AVIC I's civil aviation department as saying. ARJ21-900, the second generation jet of Xiang Feng, whose code name is ARJ21-700, will have 105 seats with all economy class, a larger capacity than Xiang Feng's 90 seats, Wang said. China launched Xiang Feng in Shanghai on December 21, marking a major step forward for the domestic aviation market. China is estimated to need another 800 to 1,000 regional jets by 2020 and the production capacity of ARJ will reach 30 aircraft annually by 2011.

THE Chinese government is considering cutting taxes on the import and leasing of aircraft to bring the country in line with international standards, according to a senior official with the Civil Aviation Administration of China. "China's tax on the import and leasing of aircraft is higher than most countries in Europe and the United States. Many European countries, such as Germany and UK, levy no taxes on aircraft imports, so we are considering cutting the tax," Sha Hongjiang, CAAC vice director of planning and development department, said yesterday.