According to a statement on its website, XAC has developed a complete system of research, manufacturing and customer services for civilian aircraft. Through its marketing of the MA600, the company further refined its sales abilities, trial operations and financing, it said.

The company also has mastered core technologies used in building large passenger aircraft. As early as 1980, it had begun to supply aircraft parts and components to Boeing, Airbus and McDonnell Douglas, and forged joint venture management arrangements with major airlines from the United Sates, Canada and France.

Meng told Xinhua News Agency that XAC has conducted research on large transport planes, which share 70 percent of their technology with large passenger aircraft. As a result, the company is expected to accelerate its research and development for large passenger aircraft.

Meng attributed the company's important role to its unprecedented technological prowess. It has 20 design rooms and laboratories. Its design department employs nearly 500 professional aircraft designers, including more than 160 senior engineers.

But Meng stressed that it was still an arduous and complicated task for XAC to build large passenger planes despite its facilities, personnel and capabilities. China's aircraft manufacturing industry still has a long way to go before catching up with the top global players that have the latest technology and efficient organizational structures. It would be a big challenge for China to manufacture large jets according to high international standards, Meng said.

Large aircraft manufacturing is mainly confined to the United States, Russia and a few European countries, with Boeing and Airbus dominating the international market. China buys and rents planes from Airbus and Boeing for its growing domestic aviation industry.

Although observers say it is too early to draw up a timetable for China to start manufacturing large jets, the country hopes to produce its first large aircraft by 2020, a recent Xinhua report said.