China’s first domestically developed passenger plane C919 enters service

Asia-Pacific, News May 30, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

China’s domestically produced passenger jet made its first successful commercial flight from Shanghai to Beijing, marking a major milestone in ending Airbus and Boeing’s decades-long hegemony over commercial airliners.

The C919 has been developed by the Shanghai-based Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC). To meet the increasing demand for China’s domestic and international air travel, the development of China’s domestically produced airliner began almost 16 years ago.

The first passenger C919 aircraft is operated by China Eastern Airlines. The plane took off from Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport on flight MU9191 on May 28, 2023, carrying 130 passengers. It landed at Beijing’s Capital Airport, 40 minutes before its scheduled time. All the passengers received red boarding passes and a curated meal to commemorate C919’s first commercial flight.

China soars to new heights as the first domestically built C919 passenger jet makes its inaugural commercial flight, challenging the longtime Airbus-Boeing duopoly pic.twitter.com/FEWosu214D
— IRIA (@IRIA_Research) May 28, 2023

“The first commercial flight is a coming-of-age ceremony of the new aircraft, and C919 will get better and better if it stands the test of the market,” said Zhang Xiaoguang, director of the marketing and sales department of COMAC.

The company has already received more than 1,200 orders for C919, mostly from China’s domestic airlines. China Eastern Airlines ordered five C919 passenger planes in March 2021 and received the first unit in December 2022. COMAC plans to produce 150 C919 planes in the next five years.

Challenge to Boeing and Airbus?

Chinese aviation analysts hope that the C919 plane would perform at par with its Western counterparts, the Boeing 737 MAX, and the Airbus A320.

While the prejudice against ‘made-in-China’ products, along with the geopolitical tensions, could restrict the C919’s immediate entry into the Western market, Chinese observers are confident about the domestic market’s potential to significantly boost the C919, given China’s position as the world’s second-largest civil aerospace and aviation services market after the United States.

COMAC is particularly targeting the Chinese and Asian markets to sell its commercial jetliner. For decades, Asia and particularly China has been one of the largest markets for European manufacturer Airbus and its American rival Boeing. The two companies have capitalized on the region’s rapidly increasing demand for air travel. Chinese passenger airlines are the largest buyers of both companies.

Last month, Airbus announced to establish a new assembly unit in Tianjin, that would double its production capacity to meet the increasing demand for air travel in China.

COMAC C919 facts

The aircraft has a length of 38.9m, a wingspan of 35.8m, and a height of 11.95m.
The dimensions of the aircraft are almost similar to those of the Airbus A320.
The passenger jetliner will accommodate up to 168 passengers.
The plane has a maximum range of about 3,500 miles (5,630 kilometers).

Although the jet was assembled in China, it relies on Western producers for several avionic parts, including the engines. Currently, the C919 is powered by CFM LEAP-1C engines, which are being made in partnership with General Electric and France’s Safran. COMAC plans to use domestically produced jet engines in the future to reduce reliance on other manufacturers.

C919 is not the first commercial passenger plane produced by COMAC. Its predecessor, the ARJ21, is a short-haul, 90-seat aircraft that entered commercial operation in 2016 and is flown by major Chinese airlines as well as Indonesia’s TransNusa. COMAC is also developing a CR929 widebody jet with two passenger aisles in collaboration with Russian plane manufacturers, but the company has not issued any recent updates.