The world’s newest aerospace aluminum mill, which Cleveland-headquartered Aleris has built at Zhenjiang in China, should begin producing metal certified for aircraft and space manufacturers by the end of the year, at about the same time as it reaches full production capacity. Aleris formally opened its 35,000-ton-per-year hot rolling mill in April, having begun pilot production there late in 2012. The plant duplicates Aleris’s major aerospace-aluminum facility at Koblenz, Germany, with detail improvements based on experience at that facility.

Avic, funding full-scale development of the MA700 turboprop from its own resources, now expects the type to go into service in 2018, says an industry official. The target has slipped repeatedly. In 2008, when the aircraft was only a proposal, first deliveries were forecast for 2014. The official attributes the slow progress to propulsion studies, although the absence of abundant central government funding, such as the financing enjoyed by Comac C919 program, presumably is a factor.

Privately-owned Chinese start-up Ruili Airlines will soon announce an order for Airbus A320-family aircraft, possibly next month, says a manufacturing industry source. After six years of refusing to entertain applications from new private airlines, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has given Ruili preliminary approval to begin operations, designating its fleet as six Boeing 737-700 and 737-800 aircraft. The number of A320-family aircraft in the imminent order is unknown.