The sixth ERJ145 jet made the Sino-Brazilian joint venture, Embraer Aircraft Industry Co., Ltd., was delivered to the China Southern Airlines Tuesday in Harbin.

As the first end user of Sino-Brazilian jets, China Southern Airlines has ordered six ERJ145 jets to strengthen its domestic feeder airlines. The five Sino-Brazilian jets delivered previously have been put into use on China's domestic airlines.

The 50-seat aircraft are manufactured by the Hafei Aviation Industry Co., Ltd. and Brazil's Empresa Brasileira De Aeronautica SA. (Embraer the world's fourth largest aircraft manufacturer.

The joint venture Embraer, based in Harbin, capital of northeastern Heilongjiang Province, was set up in January 2003. It is capable of producing up to 24 aircraft annually, according to sources with the joint venture.

The ERJ series are a new generation of turbofan regional jets that were first put on the market by Embraer in 1996. They have taken the lion's share of the global aviation market, with more than 800 aircraft already delivered to end users in the United States and Europe.

The first Sino-Brazilian ERJ145 regional jet rolled off the production line and took a successful maiden flight in December 2003.

It is estimated that China will need more than 600 jet planes with 30 to 120 seats for feeder airlines in the next 20 years, implying a market worth of 130 billion yuan (15.72 billion US dollars).

China now has more than 1,200 aircraft in service and those serving short-haul airlines only account for a small portion of the total.