On December 12th, in Beijing, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) awarded type certificate to Y-12F, a new generation advanced general regional turboprop aircraft independently developed by AVIC. This marks yet another major achievement in China's civil aircraft manufacturing industry, and carries great significance for boosting the competitiveness of Chinese civil aircraft and development of China's civil aircraft industry.

Y-12F can be used for a range of purposes, such as freight and passenger transportation, maritime surveillance, airdrops, aerial photography, geological prospecting, medical services, artificial precipitation and many others. Compared with its competing models in the same tier around the world, Y-12F boasts clear advantages in payload, travel distance, speed, comprehensive effectiveness, etc. The aircraft's advantages reside not only in having larger cabin volume and payload, higher speed, longer travel distance, strong single-engine capabilities and good high altitude adaptation, but also in its top performance in the ton kilometer/hour operation cost indicator, which is 1.5 to 2 times superior to its competitors.

According to Li Benzheng, the development of general aviation is as important as that of trunk and regional civil aircraft. It is an urgent need in the construction of China's comprehensive transportation system. Y-12F receiving the type certificate is another major achievement by China's civil aviation industry, after the commercial delivery of the new ARJ21 regional aircraft, the launch of C919 large passenger aircraft, and the assembly of the main airframe components of a large amphibious aircraft for fire suppression and water rescue. The success of Y-12F is a mark of China's competitive R&D technologies and market status in the world for the new generation of multi-purpose aircraft.