I am aware this topic was brought up and briefly discussed some 5 years ago, but no satisfactory answer was produced, as far as I know.
Although the COMAC ARJ-21 regional jet is not widely used, in fact my airlines are the only operator in the whole Ellinikon game world, I am rather curious about the reasoning behind.
Why is the ARJ classified as narrow body instead of a regional jet? This increases the crew payroll for about 40-50%, which is significant. Sukhoi SSJ and the whole Embraer family are both regional jets, with some types clearly bigger in the scale, so why is ARJ different?
Never thought of that, probably because I never considered operating them. Good question - especially given the capacity, it should be a regional jet, like you say…
Hi there, thanks for the question! I forwarded the topic internally as I’m not quite sure about the classification myself - I’ll let you know if we find out more
Just a quick update, from what I gathered it appears that, when you look at fuselage / cabin, the ARJ-21 is technically a DC-9 (a narrow body), however it’s used as a regional jet. So it’s a bit of a fuzzy topic, unfortunately - might have to look into the categories as part of a data patch
The ARJ21 is based in part on specs from the old MD80, thanks to the presence of US manufacturers in China. McDonnell Douglas operated an MD80 manufacturing facility in Shaghai before merging with Boeing, thanks to a lucrative deal signed in the early 1990s. During this time, presses and other parts were shipped from the United States to the Douglas plant. This gave the Chinese access to Western technology.
Yes I have read that article, too, but I mean is this historic assumption the only fact that counts for AS type categorization? If we look into the MTOW, the MD81 is listed at 63,5t, while the ARJ21-700 is 40,5t (no even close to the “original”), while the latest Embraer 195 E2 (again, a regional jet) is 61,5t and airlines certainly uses this type to far extended range than the ARJ. I see no logic on insisting on structure history or assumed misusage of the a certain type, when the real numbers are not even comparable.
