Comac jet debuts outside China

• Fly-by in Singapore for the plane Beijing hopes will be a contender

China’s challenger to Airbus and Boeing’s passenger jets, the narrow-body C919 manufactured by the Commercial Aircraft

Corporation of China (Comac), has made its first trip outside Chinese territory, staging a flyby at the Singapore Airshow on Sunday.

China has invested heavily in its attempt to break the hold of the dominant two Western plane makers on the global passenger market.

China has indicated a push to advance the C919 and Comac’s footprint domestically and internationally in 2024.

The plane is only certified within China and the first of four

C919s began flying with China Eastern Airlines in 2023.

With Airbus and Boeing struggling to ramp up production to meet demand for new planes and Boeing struggling with a string of crises, the aviation industry is watching how Comac positions itself as a viable alternative.

Comac would invest tens of billions of yuan over the next three to five years to expand C919 production capacity, Chinese media reported a Comac official as saying in

January. China’s aviation authority said it would in 2024 pursue EU Aviation Safety Agency validation for the C919, a process which began in 2018.

CAUTION

The C919 flew alongside an Airbus plane off Singapore’s coast at a Sunday preview for Asia’s biggest air show.

Boeing will not display a commercial aircraft this year.

Comac has two passenger products: the ARJ21 regional jet and the larger C919 twinengined narrow-body airliner with between 158 and 192 seats, which competes with the established Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX 8 models.

The C919 made its first flight outside mainland China in December to Hong Kong. ARJ21s are in use by Indonesia’s TransNusa Air.

Many in the industry caution that only four C919s are in service. In addition, the plane is certified by Chinese regulators only and the C919 relies on international supply chains.

The supply crunch in aviation, which is testing an expected full return and then growth of civil capacity in Asia, is garnering Comac more attention.

DELIVERIES

“We have also seen a growing trend where clients are including the C919 option in their fleet evaluation,” said Adam Cowburn of Alton Aviation Consultancy.

Two C919s were delivered in 2023. Aviation consultancy IBA forecasts between seven and 10

C919s could be delivered in 2024.

“With Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies in the A320neo and 737 MAX families sold out for most of this decade, the C919 has a strong opportunity to gain market share, particularly in its domestic market,” said Mike Yeomans of IBA.

“The immediate challenges for Comac are around production to meet local demand and certification to penetrate international markets,” Yeomans said.