First flight of China's ARJ21-700 has been delayed and the company has yet to fix a new date for the first flight.

The ARJ21-700 had its roll-out last December as scheduled and was due to have its first test flight in March this year but a spokesman for the aircraft marker in Shanghai says in an email to Air Transport Intelligence (ATI) that "it will not happen in March".

He says the first flight may be sometime before July this year but the company has yet to set a date.

The ARJ21-700 is a 90-seat regional jet aircraft by China Aviation Industry Corp. I Commercial Aircraft (ACAC).

ACAC oversees the programme and has said earlier it aims to have the aircraft receive Chinese certification in 2009's third quarter in time for first delivery to launch customer Shandong Airlines before the end of 2009.

This aircraft is assembled at Shanghai Aircraft (SAC) and uses major sub-assemblies from China Aviation Industry Corp. (AVIC) I factories around the country.