XI'AN — China's aircraft maker Xi'an Aircraft Industry Co (XAC) has delivered two high-performance Xinzhou-60 aircraft for remote sensing to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) for aerial observation missions.

The aircraft maker started to develop the aircraft in 2014.

Wu Yirong, a CAS academician and president of the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the academy, said the new type of aircraft has obtained an airworthiness certification from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Ding Yaxiu, chief designer of the aircraft, said the aerial observation aircraft is adapted from the Xinzhou-60 aircraft developed by the company to better address the demand of carrying different functional equipment for diversified observation purposes.

The refitted Xinzhou-60 airplanes have wide applications in emergency support, disaster relief, agriculture and water conservancy, said Wu adding that researchers from around the world can make use of the science data collected by the aircraft.