COMAC ARJ21 variant
COMAC ARJ21 ARJ21-700 ER (C909 ER)
The extended-range version of the ARJ21-700 and the family's reference airframe. Maximum take-off weight rises from 40,500 to 43,500 kg and range from 1,200 to 2,000 nautical miles with no auxiliary tanks, at the cost of a 1,900 m take-off run. Both the CBJ corporate jet and the CCF freighter conversion are built on it.
- 3,700 km
- Range
- 90
- Passengers
History
Weight buys range
The ER leaves the airframe alone — the same 33.46 m length, 27.28 m span and CF34-10A engines as the standard aircraft. What moves is the certified weight ladder. Maximum take-off weight climbs from 40,500 to 43,500 kg, maximum landing weight from 37,665 to 40,455 kg and maximum taxi weight from 40,580 to 43,580 kg, which is enough margin to carry more fuel in the structural tanks. Fully loaded range therefore goes from 1,200 to 2,000 nautical miles, roughly 3,704 km, without fitting auxiliary tanks in the hold, so the whole 20.14 m³ cargo bay stays available.
The bill for it
The cost lands on the runway: at maximum weight the take-off run stretches from 1,700 to 1,900 m, which matters at the hot-and-high airfields the ARJ21 was aimed at from the outset. Nothing else in the envelope shifts — an 11,900 m service ceiling, Mach 0.82 (870 km/h) maximum operating speed and a Mach 0.78 (828 km/h) normal cruise. Operating empty weight stays at 24,955 kg, with 8,935 kg of maximum payload and 10,386 kg of fuel. That empty weight, close to 25 tonnes, reflects a deliberately conservative structure and is heavier both than the 2002 target and than the aircraft's Western rivals.
The airframe everything else comes from
The ER became the industrial base of the family. The corporate and freighter versions share its official designation in the manufacturer's specification tables, and the first two freighter conversions were carried out on ER airframes delivered to Chengdu Airlines in 2018 and returned to Comac in 2021. Among operators, Air China — the type's second largest user — flies the extended-range aircraft alongside China Southern, China Eastern and Chengdu Airlines itself.
From ARJ21-700 ER to C909 ER
The November 2024 rebranding turned the marketing name into C909 ER while the certification designation stayed ARJ21-700 ER. This is the version that has taken the type abroad: in July 2025 Air China opened the first scheduled international service, Hohhot to Ulaanbaatar, after TransNusa, Lao Airlines and VietJet had put the aircraft to work outside China. By March 2026, 210 aircraft had been delivered, against 386 outstanding orders reported in April 2025.