China

China’s Homegrown Airliner Nearly Ready for Take-Off

The launch customer is the state-owned China Eastern Airlines, which has placed an order for five C919 jets in March last year. File photo: Reuters

State-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) said its new C919 airliner has completed test flights and is ready to be certified by aviation regulators.

The C919 is designed to be a domestic competitor to Airbus and Boeing, which provide most of China’s civilian passenger aircraft.

Designed to compete directly with the Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus 320neo families, the C919 aircraft programme has faced a range of technical issues and tougher US export controls after being launched in 2008.

The launch customer is the state-owned China Eastern Airlines, which has placed an order for five C919 jets in March last year.

Changjiang Daily, a newspaper owned by the provincial government of Wuhan, said in a report on July 8 the airline is scheduled to take the first delivery in August.

Although assembled in China, the plane relies heavily on US and European components, including engines and avionics.

Reuters, with additional editing by George Russell

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George Russell

George Russell is a freelance writer and editor based in Hong Kong who has lived in Asia since 1996. His work has been published in the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, New York Post, Variety, Forbes and the South China Morning Post.