By Lisa Barrington
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – China’s challenger to Airbus and Boeing’s passenger jets, the narrow-body C919 manufactured by the Business Plane Company of China (COMAC), has made its first journey exterior Chinese language territory, staging a fly-by on the Singapore Airshow on Sunday.
China has invested closely in its try to interrupt the maintain of the dominant two Western planemakers on the worldwide passenger market.
China has indicated a push this 12 months to advance the C919 and COMAC’s footprint domestically and internationally. The aircraft is barely licensed inside China and the primary of now 4 C919s started flying with China Japanese Airways final 12 months.
With Airbus and Boeing struggling to ramp up manufacturing and meet demand for brand spanking new planes, and Boeing battling a string of crises, the aviation {industry} is watching how COMAC positions itself as a viable different.
COMAC will make investments tens of billions of yuan over the subsequent 3-5 years to develop C919 manufacturing capability, Chinese language media reported a COMAC official saying in January.
China’s aviation authority mentioned final month it could this 12 months pursue European Union Aviation Security Company (EASA) validation for the C919, a course of which started in 2018.
The C919 was certainly one of two industrial planemakers flying their planes off Singapore’s coast alongside Airbus at a Sunday preview for Asia’s largest air present. Boeing won’t show a industrial plane this 12 months.
COMAC has two passenger merchandise: the ARJ21 regional jet and the bigger C919 twin-engine narrow-body airliner with 158-192 seats, which competes with the established Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX 8 fashions.
The C919 made its first flight exterior mainland China in December to Hong Kong. ARJ21s are in use by Indonesia’s TransNusa Air.
Many contained in the {industry} warning that solely 4 C919s are in service in China; the aircraft is barely licensed by Chinese language regulators and the C919 depends worldwide provide chains.
Nonetheless the aviation industry-wide provide crunch, which is testing an anticipated full return after which progress of civil capability in Asia, is garnering COMAC extra consideration.
“We’ve got additionally seen a rising development the place purchasers are together with the C919 possibility of their fleet analysis,” mentioned Adam Cowburn of Alton Aviation Consultancy.
Two C919s had been delivered in 2023. Aviation consultancy IBA forecasts 7-10 C919s could possibly be delivered in 2024.
“With Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies within the A320neo and 737 MAX households offered out for many of this decade, the C919 has a robust alternative to achieve market share, significantly in its home market,” mentioned Mike Yeomans of aviation consultancy IBA.
“The instant challenges for COMAC are round manufacturing to fulfill native demand and certification to penetrate worldwide markets,” Yeomans added.
(Reporting by Lisa Barrington; Modifying by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
