(AV News) China's first independently developed passenger jet will take off on its maiden flight in 2008.

The 70-seater ARJ21 turbofan aircraft is due to make it's first flight in March 2008 after being fully assembled by the end of next year.

The plane, slated to run regional lines and now being built by the China Aviation Industry Corporation I (AVIC I), will become available to buyers in September 2009, said the company's President Liu Gaozhuo at a working meeting in Beijing.

He added that the corporation aims to produce 11 ARJ21s a year by 2010, taking a lion's share of the world's fiercely-competitive civil aviation market.