Chinese jet’s long takeoff run
China’s first airliner designed to compete with Airbus and Boeing is off to a slow start. After the fanfare surrounding the C919’s maiden flight in May, the single-aisle plane didn’t fly again for four months and the two test aircraft have since made only about two dozen flights, well below the normal schedule for a new commercial jet.
The dearth of flight time is a setback for a flagship project in President Xi Jinping’s plan to build a globally competitive aerospace industry.
“It just doesn’t bode well,” said Chad J.R. Ohlandt, a senior engineer with US-based think tank RAND Corp. “What should happen is the first two or three prototypes roll off the line and go through a series of tests — at least a few dozen.”
The plane’s maker — state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China, or Comac — will ground the first test aircraft for about two months for modifications, the deputy director of the C919 programme, Wu Yue, said last month.
Part of the problem is that Comac’s home base is Shanghai Pudong International Airport, one of China’s busiest airports. The company decided to transfer its first test aircraft in November to Yanliang in Xi’an, a city in western China.
Comac pointed out that Airbus and Boeing, which both have dedi- cated testing airfields, have more experience in commissioning a new jet. The company said the frequency of test flights had increased since the move to Xi’an.
“The testing for the C919 is progressing according to plan,” said a company spokesman.
Normally, a company developing a new aircraft would follow the initial flight with many more tests, said George Ferguson, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. “Usually it doesn’t stutter-start.”
China is trying to break into a US$1.1 trillion market that has been virtually owned by the Airbus-Boeing duopoly since the formation of the European aerospace group more than four decades ago.
The C919, which relies heavily on equipment and systems from North American and European suppliers, would compete in the lucrative medium-range market dominated by the Airbus A320 and Boeing’s 737.
Without international certification, the C919 couldn’t fly to Singapore for Asia’s biggest airshow this week. Comac has announced 785 orders for the C919, almost all from Chinese airlines.
Comac also has an order for the jet from GE Capital Aviation Services, an aircraft and engine leasing company, and a C919 contractor.
The plane’s engines come from CFM International, GE’s joint venture with Safran Aircraft Engines. Other suppliers include Honeywell International and United Technologies.
Comac is also trying to win customers for its smaller ARJ21 regional jet, which began commercial operation in 2016.
So far, however, Comac has delivered just four of the planes, all to Chengdu Airlines, based in Sichuan. Comac is a major shareholder in Chengdu Airlines.
Under the Made in China 2025 programme, launched by the Chinese Government in 2015, aviation will be one of 10 new pillar industries to upgrade its economy.
China’s state-run ICBC Financial Leasing, the world’s fifth-largest aircraft leasing company, has promised to buy 100 C919s, while Shanghaibased launch customer China Eastern Airlines has said it will start negotiating the purchase of five C919s within a year of the maiden flight.
A Comac official said in Singapore this week that the company expects mass production of the plane after 2021.