CAAC awards Airbus’ ACJneo its Validated Type Certificate for operations in China

Beijing, China, 27^th March 2025 — Airbus has marked an important milestone for its ACJneo which enables its widespread operation in the Chinese mainland market: The award of its Validated Type Certificate (VTC) by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

This approval affirms that the design of the Airbus ACJneo aircraft complies with the relevant provisions of the Chinese civil aviation regulations and recognises the original Type Certificate issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

Boosting operational autonomy and productivity in China and lowering costs

Chadi Saade, president of Airbus Corporate Jets, said: “This VTC award brings a major market differentiator for the ACJneo, as it is now one of the very few large business jets available which operators can locally register in mainland China – bringing them significant operational autonomy and lower costs.”

By enabling a local Chinese registration, the VTC frees operators from the constraints associated with foreign aircraft registration. For the ACJneo's Chinese operators in particular, this will bring extra productivity by opening up autonomous access to many airports across the country. The other major benefit which a local registration brings operators is the ability to take into account their aircraft's operational costs – including the fuel purchased – in their company's tax obligations.

The award is the successful culmination of the ACJneo's VTC project dossier which was submitted to the CAAC HQ for final signature. People from Airbus HQ and Airbus China airworthiness and engineering department, EASA and CAAC officers contributed to the achievement.

Chadi adds: “Along with all the teams who helped to prepare the certification dossier, we sincerely thank the Chinese CAAC for granting Validated Type Certification approval for our ACJneo family in China. Moreover, we are very confident that this aircraft will prove to be a most valuable productivity tool for corporations, organisations and VIPs across mainland China.”

Specific certified features for the ACJ's corporate role

The ACJneo is based on the widespread A320neo Family aircraft and benefits from the resulting commonality with the passenger variant. It also incorporates a number of tailored features which reflect the ACJneo's corporate jet role. These features include: installation of additional auxiliary centre tanks (ACTs) for greater intercontinental range; the extension of the flight envelope up to 41,000 ft altitude (i.e.above the flight paths of normal airline traffic); the installation of retractable stairs at forward passenger door – facilitating independent boarding the deboarding; and a lower cabin altitude activation for extra comfort on long range missions.

The ACJneo Family, which directly supersedes the original A320ceo based ACJ, includes the ACJ319neo and ACJ320neo variants. The ACJneo features next-generation engines (CFMI LEAP and P&W GTF options) for superior long range efficiency, enabling flights of more than 13 hours (ACJ320neo) and 15 hours (ACJ319neo) respectively. Its spacious and customisable cabin is the widest and tallest in its class, offering three times more space than traditional large business jets with similar range and operating costs. To date around 160 A320 Family ACJs are in service worldwide.