"Zhuhai is one of the world's most romantic cities," claims the airport website of the southern Chinese city, just along the coast from Macau. It is hardly Paris or Venice, but Zhuhai has a special place in the heart of China’s aviation industry as the home of the country's biggest air show, held every two years, at which deals are done and home-grown technology is proudly displayed.

One of the stars of the 2008 show, even though it has yet to make its maiden flight, was the ARJ21, a locally developed 70-seat regional jet. Its first flight is due to take place on November 16th after several delays—which, in all fairness, are common throughout the industry. But the ARJ21 made headlines because its manufacturer, the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (CACC), announced that the aircraft-leasing arm of GE, an American conglomerate, had ordered five of the $30m jets, with the option to buy another 20. The first will be delivered in 2013.

Aircraft-leasing firms act as a buffer between airlines and aircraft manufacturers, buying and selling options on future aircraft with airlines and each other. GE has an interest in the ARJ21, as the supplier of its engines, and is expected to lease the aircraft to Chinese airlines. Even so, the deal was presented as a vote of confidence in the ARJ21, as the first Western order for the Chinese-built jet.

CACC says the aircraft is expected to obtain flight certification from American and Chinese authorities by 2010. But to sell its aircraft abroad, CACC will have to create a service and maintenance network, which will not be easy because of a shortage of suitably skilled staff. Within China, however, domestic airlines have already ordered over 200 ARJ21s. An import tax of 17% and a sales tax of 5% on aircraft weighing less than 25 tonnes has hampered sales of foreign jets, prompting manufacturers to stay out of the Chinese market (as has Canada's Bombardier) or set up local assembly lines (as has Embraer of Brazil).

CACC officials also provided more detail about the firm's plans to build a larger aircraft with 150 seats, putting it in the same class as the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737. Although China still lacks the technical expertise of Western manufacturers, CACC argues that the need for quieter, more fuel-efficient planes means that starting from scratch is not such a bad thing. The company plans to build the aircraft in conjunction with an international network of established component-suppliers—the model that is also used for the ARJ21, and is intended in part to reassure would-be buyers. It is sticking with its target date of 2020.

Many foreign analysts doubt that Western airlines will ever be prepared to buy Chinese aircraft. But, as in other fields, China is playing a long game.