Photo/Chengdu Daily

A white rectangular box, seemingly heavy but can be easily lifted by two hands, made its appearance at the Second Civil Aviation Science and Technology Innovation Achievement Exhibition held in Beijing, attracting wide attention. The reporter of Chengdu Daily noticed the container on April 11 at The Second Research Institute of CAAC. 

"This is a Chengdu-made composite material aviation container that has just obtained FAA airworthiness certification," said Chen Jianping, deputy chief engineer of the research institute. It is also the first composite material aviation container in China to obtain FAA design approval letter. This means it can be widely used in global passenger and cargo flights. It is only a "pocket-sized" sample box, one-eighth the size of an actual aviation container. 

Compared with traditional aluminum alloy aviation containers, this composite material aviation container is 30%-40% lighter, which means that each box can save about 2 tons of aviation fuel per year," said Chen Jianping. 

In addition to being more environmentally friendly and energy-saving due to its lightweight, the container is durable and impact-resistant. 

The panel can be easily repaired by using the same material through glue or hot and cold pressing composite treatment, greatly reducing the container's operation and maintenance costs. 

"Traditional aluminum alloy containers can only be used for 4-5 years, while this composite material container can be used for 10 years or even longer," said Chen Jianping. "The procurement cost of the container has been reduced by about half, making it cost-effective in promotion and application." Chen Jianping said that the project has obtained three patents, and the product has been tested by airlines such as Lucky Air and Tibet Airlines.