China’s home-grown C919 passenger jet is set to mark a production milestone, with its manufacturer delivering the narrow-body aircraft to three major carriers, while on September 1 China Eastern welcomed the 500,000th passenger on one of its seven C919 aircraft after 15 months of operation.
The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) made the first delivery of the Chinese alternative to the bestselling narrow-body jets of Airbus and Boeing to Air China and China Southern Airlines, on top of continuing orders from China Eastern Airlines, the first airline to order the C919. Air China and China Southern in April agreed to each buy 100 C919 jets to be delivered between 2024 and 2031, with the Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines having previously been the sole customer for the C919. “The speed with which Comac is delivering the C919 to three customers in one month reflects growing capabilities to tackle production bottlenecks and coordinate with regulators and multiple suppliers and buyers for a quick turnaround between order and delivery,” said Li Hanming, a U.S.-based aviation analyst.
China’s state-owned manufacturer is seeking a foothold in the world’s second-largest aviation market by size as cracks appear in the dominance of Western plane makers. “Expanding production capacity is exigent as the order backlog swells. This is even more important than getting Western certification,” Li added, as Comac is said to be optimistic about receiving certification from the European Union aviation regulator. “If output cannot be ramped up, it will hobble sales and buyers may cancel or downsize orders,” Li said. Comac has already started construction of a second assembly line in Shanghai to deal with the increased demand.
Air China said that its first C919 would bear a commemorative registration code of B-919X, and that pilots, cabin crew and maintenance teams were wrapping up three months of operation and safety training at Comac’s headquarters in Shanghai. The Air China C919 would seat 158 passengers, six less than the seating configuration for China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, to allow more space and comfort for passengers, Air China said. China Southern also said it had been working with Comac to prepare its first C919 for operation, with the jet set to fly key routes from Guangzhou to Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. The C919 has flown more than 3,100 flights since it entered service with China Eastern Airlines in May 2023, but Air China and China Southern said they still conducted meticulous checks during manufacturing and test flights. China Eastern Airlines, meanwhile, has put seven jets into service, with 98 on order.
Shanghai-based Suparna Airlines, a subsidiary of Hainan Airlines, will be the first non-state-owned buyer of the C919, with the first delivery of 30 planes scheduled for the fourth quarter. At least five C919s will also join GallopAir, a new operator backed by Chinese capital and based in Brunei, that is expected to begin service by the end of the year. Comac would deliver 150 C919s annually in the coming five years, according to the Shanghai-based Airwefly aviation platform.
The C919's output still pales in comparison to Airbus which manufactured 229 A320neo aircraft – the model the C919 aspires to compete against – between January and June. U.S.-based Boeing also delivered 137 of its 737s in the first half of the year. The delivery plan for the C919 also hinges on Comac’s ability to secure continuous imports of engines and other critical parts from Western suppliers, with the hope that commercial deals can continue to be insulated from geopolitical turbulence. The C919 relies on engines supplied by CFM International, a joint venture between France’s Safran and U.S. GE Aerospace, with only parts of the fuselage sourced domestically.
China Eastern Airlines' C919 planes have been operating smoothly for 15 consecutive months since its first commercial flight, flying five scheduled routes, and has carried out more than 3,600 commercial flights and 10,000 flight hours. The latest deliveries to Air China and China Southern indicated that the C919 is now ready for full-scale commercial operations and will soon be fully integrated into the domestic civil aviation market, Lin Zhijie, an independent market watcher, said. As the first global customer of C919, China Eastern received its seventh C919 plane in July.
China’s domestic air travel market will surpass that of the United States to become the world’s largest by 2043. It will also more than double its current commercial airplane fleet size, fueled by ever-growing demand, U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing said in a forecast. As China’s economy and air traffic continue to grow, its commercial fleet size will grow by 4.1% annually over the next two decades to 9,740 jets by 2043, and more than half of the new deliveries will be used to meet growing demand, according to Boeing’s latest Commercial Market Outlook. Through 2043, China’s annual passenger traffic growth of 5.9% will exceed the global average of 4.7%. This would mean China is set to witness the world’s largest traffic flow.
This overview is based on reports by the China Daily, the Global Times and the South China Morning Post.
