Two more Chinese airlines to start flying China-made COMAC C919 jet

Date:

Share post:


BEIJING (Reuters) – Air China and China Southern Airlines will become the second and third Chinese carriers to fly China’s homegrown COMAC C919 passenger jet when their first planes are delivered on Wednesday, state-run Chinese Central TV said.

Chinese planemaker COMAC is trying to break into a passenger jet market dominated by Western manufacturers Airbus and Boeing that has been strained by aircraft shortages and a Boeing safety crisis.

The C919 entered domestic service in May last year with China Eastern, which flies seven of the jets domestically.

China’s three big state-owned airlines have each ordered 100 C919s, and COMAC has said more than 1,000 have been ordered overall.

China Southern last week said on social media platform Weibo that the first C919 would be integrated into its fleet by Wednesday.

The C919 seats up to 192 people and is in a similar category as Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A320neo planes.

COMAC this year has increased sales and production plans and has been marketing the C919 abroad, especially within Southeast Asia and also to growing aviation market Saudi Arabia.

It is also developing a wide-body plane design.

Zhongtai Securities last month said it expects COMAC to be able to produce 100 aircraft a year by around 2030, with total jets produced exceeding 1,000 by 2035.

Airbus delivered 735 commercial aircraft in 2023.

Industry sources caution that COMAC is a long way from making inroads internationally, especially without benchmark certifications from the United States or European Union – which COMAC is pursuing – or more efficient planes.

A forecast from aviation consultancy Cirium in May sees just under 1,700 C919 deliveries by 2042, giving the C919 around a 25% market share compared to Boeing’s 30% and Airbus’s 45%.

The first C919 delivery to a private airline is expected by year-end.

Shanghai-based Suparna Airlines, a subsidiary of China’s fourth biggest carrier Hainan Airlines which has 60 C919s on order, has said it eventually aims to fly only C919s.

China will more than double its commercial airplane fleet by 2043 and will need 8,830 new planes, Boeing’s annual Commercial Market Outlook said in July.

(Reporting by Sophie Yu and Lisa Barrington; Editing by Miral Fahmy)



Source link

Alexandra Williams
Alexandra Williams
Alexandra Williams is a writer and editor. Angeles. She writes about politics, art, and culture for LinkDaddy News.

Recent posts

Related articles

Car hits 'pretty loaded' school bus carrying Lakota Local School District students

Students on a Lakota Local School District bus were involved in a crash in West Chester Township...

Homeless man dies after catching fire on Manhattan street corner: NYPD

A 48-year-old homeless man died early Thursday after he caught fire on a Gramercy street, officials said.Cops...

Donald Trump Supporters Are Already Finding Out What Their Vote Actually Meant, And The Stories Are Going Viral

In light of the 2024 election results, some have been evoking a 2015 meme that pretty succinctly...

Tropical Storm Sara forms in Caribbean, could threaten Florida next week

ORLANDO, Fla. — The National Hurricane Center said Tropical Storm Sara formed in the Caribbean on Thursday,...

Alex Jones Is Having a Total Meltdown Over The Onion Buying Infowars

Alex Jones is having a full meltdown on the cusp of InfoWars’s extinction.The far-right conspiracy network was...

More human remains from Philadelphia's 1985 MOVE bombing have been found at a museum

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Additional human remains from a 1985 police bombing on the headquarters of a Black...

Satire publication The Onion buys Alex Jones' Infowars at auction with help from Sandy Hook families

The satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones' Infowars at a bankruptcy auction,...

Video appears to show a Ukrainian Leopard tank taking out a column of Russian armored vehicles

Ukraine released a video showing an attack on a Russian armored convoy.The brigade said a Leopard 2...