C919: China’s home-grown aircraft on course to be certified by end of 2021, designer says
- The Chinese government formed the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) in 2008 to design and build the single-aisle C919
- China Eastern Airlines signed a deal with Comac to buy five C919 jets on Monday
China’s home-built C919 aircraft is expected to finish flight testing and win airworthiness certification by the end of this year, the programme’s chief designer, Wu Guanghui, said on Friday on the sidelines of an annual parliament meeting.
The carrier, which signed a letter of intent with Comac in 2010, is expected to take delivery of the first C919 aircraft this year once they are certified by China’s aviation regulator.
The government will also push for “exemplary operations” of C919 over the next five years, it said.
The C919, which will compete with Boeing’s 737 and the Airbus SE A320, is widely regarded as a symbol of China’s civil aerospace ambition.
Without disclosing a value for the deal, Comac said in a statement on social media on Monday that the aircraft would be based in China Eastern’s headquarters in Shanghai and be deployed in routes to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan and others.
Comac’s C919 plane has received 815 provisional orders, but very few from airlines or leasing firms outside China.
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Three more Chinese C919 passenger jets to start test flights by late 2019
China will push forward with the development of CJ1000, a turbofan jet engine designed to power the C919, the government said on Friday in its development plan for the 2021-2025 period.
It also aims to achieve breakthrough in engine technology for widebody jets, the government said.
Chinese-made civil aircraft, including the C919, currently use foreign engines but the country has been trying to develop a home-grown alternative as it seeks to cut its dependence on foreign sources of sophisticated technology.
In 2018, the United States charged Chinese intelligence officers for a data hack to steal information on a turbo fan engine used in commercial jetliners. China denied the charges.
