The flight of China's first commercial plane has been delayed owing to the rescheduling done by Chinese authorities of its final airworthiness test certification.

From an original schedule in 2008, Chinese regulators have push-penned to 2013 the schedule of completion of all tests on China's first passenger jetliner, otherwise known as ARJ21.

Tian Min, chief financial officer of state-controlled Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd. (Comac), who spoke on the sidelines of a Beijing conference, revealed the information, Reuters News reported. No details for the delay were provided.

"It is a process," was all Tian reportedly said.

China has embarked into an ambitious plan to enter the global aerospace industry. Apart from the 90-seater ARJ21, a bigger 168-seater C919 jetliner is also in the pipeline. The rescheduling effectively places the programme by five years delayed based on Comac's original schedule to secure the certification.

Comac designed and developed both air carriers. It said the 168-seater C919 jetliner should be able to secure its airworthiness approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), as scheduled by 2016. Its maiden flight has been scheduled for 2014.

The ARJ21 is a smaller commercial plane equipped to fly across 2,000 miles. It is meant for midsize markets.

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