February 3, ATWOnline - Jiangxi provincial government plans to build a CNY40 billion ($5.85 billion) aviation industrial complex in the capital of Nanchang centering on production of 25% of the fuselage for the country's C919 large commercial transport.

Nanchang is about 400 mi. southwest of Shanghai. The local government signed a joint venture agreement with AVIC in December to cooperate on aviation technology and launch the Nanchang General Aircraft Co., which will support AVIC subsidiary Hongdu Commercial Aircraft Co. and produce components for both domestically produced commercial aircraft and business jets.

Hongdu signed an MOU with Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China last spring to produce a quarter of the fuselage for the C919 and also reached a subcontractor agreement with Vought Aircraft Industries in December to produce spares for the 747-8.

Since China's trunk liner project was announced in 2007, aviation industrial parks also have been planned in Shenyang, Tianjin, Beijing and Shanghai, which some local aviation analysts have criticized as "a waste of resources and money."