China’s first home-grown airliner is seeking its first Western buyer as it takes advantage of Airbus and Boeing delays. Meet the Comac C919.

After 15 years of production, China’s first homegrown mainline commercial jet flew for the first time in May 2023.

The flight was operated by China Eastern Airlines from Shanghai to Beijing, carrying nearly 130 passengers, according to a Comac press release.

China’s small twin-engine plane first entered commercial service in 2016 with Chengdu Airlines. The C919 is the first large narrowbody made by China.

The China Eastern plane has eight business class seats and 156 economy seats with custom-designed inflight interiors and entertainment systems.

The carrier’s eight-strong C919 fleet also flies to cities like Xi’an and Chengdu in China.

Reuters reported that both carriers signed orders for 100 C919s each in April 2024 and have since launched commercial flights. Beijing-based Air China ordered an extended-range version of the jet, which can fly about 3,500 miles nonstop.

The shorter-ranged version ordered by China Eastern and China Southern can fly up to about 2,500 miles.

Comac has secured over 1,000 orders for the C919, primarily from Chinese airlines like Hainan Airlines and Sichuan Airlines. Comac appeared to make progress outside Southeast Asia in May when Reuters reported it had held discussions with Saudi officials.

However, the planemaker hopes to sell its home-grown jetliner to Western carriers to puncture the Airbus-Boeing duopoly.

According to Reuters, Comac may take advantage of Boeing and Airbus’ supply-chain constraints by securing a deal with Total Linhas Aereas, a small Brazilian charter and cargo carrier.

Paulo Almada, Total Linhas Aereas’s controlling partner, told Reuters that talks with Comac have been ongoing for months.

Reuters reported that Almada will visit Comac in October to discuss an order of up to four of its C919 jetliners. 

While European low-cost airline Ryanair told Simple Flying in April 2023 that it doesn’t see the C919 as “relevant” quite yet, the carrier previously said it wouldn’t completely table the Chinese plane. In 2011, Ryanair invested in its development to put pressure on Airbus and Boeing.

“If they can take up a lot of the Chinese domestic orders, great! That will weaken the order books of both Airbus and Boeing, and that would be good for airlines in the West,” Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary told Simple Flying. “We want to actively encourage and promote a third manufacturer in the world. It would be good for all airlines to have three manufacturers.”

Still, the C919 has not secured European or US certification. SCMP reported in August that European regulators have visited Comac’s facilities to evaluate the plane and received “positive feedback.” This could put the C919 on track for a 2025 certification, per the outlet.

The C919, however, is a less advanced aircraft than the 737 and A320 families, boasting less range and power.

Still, Almada said the slow delivery pace of Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies has pushed it toward the Chinese-grown option. Airbus has seen a slowdown in production following supply chain issues, while Boeing is still facing scrutiny after the Alaska Airlines 737 Max blowout in January.

“The industry is dealing with supply shortages, but Comac told us they could deliver the aircraft by next March,” Almada told Reuters.

The C919 program was launched in 2008, and production began in December 2011, with the first prototype rolling off the assembly line in November 2015.

However, the program was initially scheduled for commercial launch in 2016 — putting its May 2023 inaugural flight about seven years behind schedule.

Years of technical difficulties and supply issues delayed the development.

Specifically, Comac was impacted by restrictions imposed by the Trump Administration in 2020 that blacklisted shipments of things like fight controls and jet engines. 

Comac was forced to rely on special licenses from entities like General Electric and Honeywell to get the parts it needed for the jet, according to a report by the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a think tank based in Washington, DC.

According to the Southern China Morning Post, the list price for the shorter-ranged C919 is about $99 million, and the longer-ranger version is about $108 million.

That compares to the list prices of the Boeing 737 Max 8 and the A320neo, which are about $122 million and about $110 million, respectively. However, jet pricing varies as airlines commonly get discounts when ordering in bulk.

Reuters reported the plane can seat between 158 and 192 passengers, depending on the cabin configuration.

Airlines flying C919 jets have fit cabins with economy and business class seating.

A high-density all-economy cabin could be advantageous to budget airlines, for example.

The engines are being made in partnership with General Electric and France’s Safran.

Forbes reported in 2022 that the C919’s engine is a variant of the LEAP-1A/1B seen on the A320 and 737 families, which could explain the jet’s lower range.

Chinese aerospace manufacturer Aero Engine Corporation of China, or AECC, is developing the CJ-1000A, a turbofan jet engine that it hopes will make its C919 truly Chinese-built.

However, SCMP reported in February that China has not had a great track record of building home-grown engines. It cited 2022 research from China’s civil-military integration platform that said mechanical failures and lackluster design were the biggest problems facing Chinese engine manufacturers.

Research from the state-owned China Construction Bank showed similar results.

“China’s aerospace engine industry, represented by AECC, basically has the development and production capabilities for various types of aero engines, but there is still a certain gap compared with [those produced by] advanced Western countries,” the bank said, per SCMP.

The US added new aerospace export restrictions effective July that could hinder China’s engine-making productivity, according to CNN.

“In order to safeguard national security and interests, and fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation, with the approval of the State Council and Central Military Commission, it has been decided to implement export controls on the following items,” the statement read.

Items requiring an export license include aerospace structural components, parts and software used in engine manufacturing, and gas turbine engines, among other things, per CNN.

China has been accused of launching a multi-year hacking operation to acquire the intellectual property of the foreign companies that supply parts for the jet, according to a CrowdStrike report published in 2019 and a Department of Justice indictment.

According to the report, this may result in the C919 not being the same quality as Western competitors because many foreign companies were unwilling to supply their parts due to the allegations.

“The C919 is yesterday’s technology available today,” aviation consultant Michael Boyd told Forbes in 2022. “Domestically, the open question is how much damage the [Chinese government] will do to Chinese carriers by forcing them to fly these things.”

Reuters reported Comac plans to expand the production of its C919s to 150 a year over the next five years as it continues to seek overseas buyers and earn international certification.

“Once completed, the project will meet the future mass production needs of the C919 program, providing strong support for the commercial operation and market competitiveness of China’s domestically-produced large aircraft,” the company said, per Reuters.