The construction of ARJ21 Aircraft Customer Service Center located in the Shanghai Zizhu Science Based Industrial Park in Minhang District was completed last month.

"It marks another milestone in the program development and I can see the high attention paid by AVIC Commercial Aircraft Co to the customer service," said Shao Xiaoyun, vice president of Shanghai Airline during the ceremony.

With a total area of 18,000 square meters, the customer service center, with complete and advanced service facilities, is going to be the biggest civil aircraft customer service center in China for customer training, spare parts service, and online customer service.

The establishment of ARJ21 Aircraft Customer Service Center is set to reduce the training and maintenance cost greatly for the airlines and ensures a safe and reliable operation with more profits, and thus better meets the airlines' requirements.

At the same time, the construction of such a big customer service center also reflects the mighty and prosperous development and manufacturing capability of the Chinese civil aircraft industry.

Apart from the customer service center, ACAC is also going to build the company's new headquarters and the technical center phase two in Zizhu Science Based Industrial Park with the total construction area reaching 54,000 sqms.

The ARJ21, or Xiangfeng which means flying phoenix in Chinese, is a twin-engined regional airliner, and is the first passenger jet to be developed in China.

The first fully home-grown commercial aircraft was unveiled last December.

As an regional passenger jet with up to 85 seats, the ARJ21 is scheduled to make its maiden flight in March.

The manufacturer, China Aviation Industry Corp I (AVIC I), plans to begin mass production in 2009.

The ARJ21 is expected to take up to 60 percent of the Chinese domestic market for mid-sized regional airliners within the next 20 years.