A direct competitor of the most popular Airbus and Boeing airliners made its first flight with passengers in China – on May 28, the new Chinese-made C919 narrow-body airliner made its first commercial scheduled flight from Shanghai to Beijing.
Source. Bloomberg reports.
So far, this is the first aircraft of this type to be put into commercial operation. The original customer, China Eastern, has orders for four more aircraft (to be delivered this year) and an option for 15 more.
In total, the manufacturer, the Chinese state-owned company Comac, has already received 1,200 orders, mostly from Chinese lessors. Guaranteed demand should allow the company to produce 150 aircraft per year in five years.
The C919 is a direct competitor to the world's main aircraft, the Airbus A320 and the latest Boeing 737. In the long run, China claims to break the duopoly, taking third place and 15% of the market worth at least $100 billion a year.
In addition, it has a price advantage of about $100 million.
The C919 is the first Chinese passenger airliner that is not a direct copy of a prototype. However, it is built with extensive use of Western avionics, and its engines are produced by a joint venture between American GE Aviation and French Safran.
Comac has already been under US sanctions for two years for its cooperation with the Chinese military-industrial complex. And recently, Foreign Policy wrote that a ban on aircraft engines is the easiest way to completely stop the Chinese civilian aviation industry and thus punish the country for its pro-Russian stance on the Ukrainian issue. The Chinese engine for the airliner is still under development and is not expected to be ready by the end of the decade.
It is unlikely that the C919 will be considered as an alternative for Russian airlines, as the manufacturer will undoubtedly be subject to secondary sanctions, Bloomberg notes.
Background. As reported, at least 2,000 flights in Russia last year were operated by aircraft with expired spare parts.