China’s technological pursuit for a piece of the pie of the global air transportation market hit a milestone this week. The country’s first locally-made passenger plane completed its first commercial flight. This marks China’s entry into the list of jet makers like Boeing and Airbus. The C919 was built by the Commercial Aviation Corporation of China (COMAC) and 130 passengers boarded the historic flight from Shanghai to Beijing.

The C919 maiden commercial flight started from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport on Sunday, May 28, and safely touched ground in Beijing in less than two hours. The flight was operated by China Eastern Airlines, a state-owned airline. The side of the C919 aircraft had the words emblazoned on its side: The World’s First C919.

The C919 is a single-aisle jet that COMAC hopes could compete with the heavy hitters in the global aviation market like the Airbus A320 and Boeing B737. The design and most of the parts of the C919 were locally sourced. However, the plane still has some important components like the engine imported from the West.

China C919 Jetliner makes its first commercial flight with 130 passengers onboard

COMAC plans to build up to 150 C919 jets per year up to 2027. It had taken up to 16 years for China to reach this milestone. The C919 has a range of 3,500 miles and can carry up to 168 passengers. COMAC has a long list of orders already placed for the C919, up to 1,200 units. China Eastern Airlines is expected to be high on the pecking order and it is expected to take delivery of five units of the C919.

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China’s indigenous C919 jetliner is set to take its first passenger flight in the Spring of 2023. The C919 is a part of commercial passenger aircraft made by COMAC (Commercial Aircraft Corp of China). Once in operation, the aircraft will put China on the global aviation map and help Beijing to end the duopoly of US-based Boeing and France-based Airbus. 

Airbus SE is the world’s biggest aircraft manufacturer. Though the company also makes military aircraft and helicopters, its major business comes from commercial passenger airlines. In 1972, Airbus launched the A300, the first-ever aircraft to have a digital fly-by-wire interface as well as dual engines and aisles. It then launched the upgraded A320 aircraft, which was designed with similar features and is considered the most popular and safest passenger aircraft in the world.

Boeing is famous in the aviation industry. The American corporation not only makes passenger aircraft but also manufactures weapon systems, satellites, and rockets.  Boeing 747, 737, and Dreamliner models are extremely popular across the globe. However, Boeing faced serious backlash for the crash of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, which led to a worldwide grounding of Boeing 737 Max from March 2019 to December 2022. Some countries including China lifted the ban just this month. 

China ranks second in the world, after US, for air passenger traffic and has the fastest-growing air passenger market. Thus, Beijing is highly motivated to make indigenous aircraft so that it can leverage the economic advantage of the massive market and reduce the dependency on international players like Airbus and Boeing. Moreover, complete dependence on foreign firms also increases the risk to national security and other geopolitical issues. Therefore, China wishes to become fully self-reliant when it comes to the civil aviation industry.

China Has Been Looking Forward To This Moment Since 2008

To fulfill China’s Civil Aviation dreams, the COMAC was established in 2008 in Shanghai. The state-owned aerospace manufacturer designs and manufactures large passenger aircraft for the country.  The C919, twin-engine, single aisle short to medium-range passenger aircraft designed by COMAC will become the country’s first commercial passenger aircraft. The name C919 has a special meaning wherein the C stands for China, ‘9’ in Chinese is pronounced as ‘九’ which means everlasting and enduring and 19 represents the aircraft’s max capacity of 190 seats. 

C919 will try to compete with the world-famous Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 Max medium-range aircraft. The C919 features a standard range of 4075 km and a maximum range of 5555 km. The aircraft comes with a price tag of $99 million, which is cheaper than the $122 million Airbus A320 and $111 million Boeing 737 Max.

However, while the C919 is designed and assembled in China, like Boeing and Airbus, it also depends on global partnerships and collaborations for certain crucial parts and technological know-how. For example, COMAC uses LEAP-1C engines specifically designed for the company by CFM, a joint venture between GE Aviation of the US and Safran Aircraft Engines of France. 

The C919 had its first successful maiden flight in 2017 and is now conducting the final certification procedures.  As of December 26, the aircraft has completed a total of 100 hours of verification flights. China Eastern Airlines had already signed a contract to buy five C919 jetliners in March 2021 and will be the first air carrier to fly passengers on this aircraft.

COMAC Has Received 1200 Orders From 32 Customers

Zhang Yujin, deputy general manager of COMAC said that China Eastern Airlines has the first batch of orders, and several airlines are vying for their planes. In the next five years, the company is expecting to produce 150 aircraft annually. According to the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai, COMAC has already received more than 1200 orders from 32 customers. 

The initial demand for C919 will be focused in China but according to the recent report from Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), the C919 has the capacity to go global by breaking the Boeing-Airbus duopoly in the domestic market and then leveraging that success to explore overseas markets.

Global players are already vying for the Chinese aviation market. As China has the second-largest number of passenger air travelers it is a lucrative and important market for the global aviation industry. In 2022 alone, Airbus made 662 deliveries out of which 100 aircraft were for Chinese air carriers and Boeing made 480 deliveries out of which 8 were sold to Chinese airlines. For both these giants, the rise of COMAC and homegrown aircraft by China can pose a potential threat to their hegemony. 

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Huawei was added to the US ‘Entity List’ last year. This forced American companies to cease their businesses with the Chinese telecom giant. Now, after a year, the ban has been further extended for another year, in addition to plans that will cut off Huawei from global chip suppliers like TSMC. To counterattack these harsh measures, China is readying its own ‘Unreliable Entity List’ according to a report by Global Times.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s (MOFCOM) Unreliable Entity List will include “foreign organizations, individuals and companies that block or shut supply chains, or take discriminatory measures for non-commercial reasons, whose actions endanger the business of Chinese companies as well as global consumers and companies”.

The listed companies will have to “face necessary legal and administrative measures and the Chinese public will also be warned against it to reduce risks”.

According to insiders, the Chinese government is targeting the following US companies that are largely dependent on China.

• Apple
• Qualcomm
• Cisco
• Boeing

The problem for Huawei begun to pile up in early 2018 when AT&T dropped its plans to sell the Mate 10 Pro on account of pressure from the US government. This was later followed by warnings from the FBI, CIA, NSA, and three other US intelligence agencies to stop using or buying products from Huawei and ZTE. 

Also, these companies were later banned from supplying telecom equipment for 5G infrastructure. The US officials even warned other countries to avoid using technologies from these two brands.

Then in May of 2019, Huawei was finally added to the ‘Entity List’ and this led the company to lose its GMS (Google Mobile Services) license. Since then, the sales of Huawei and Honor branded smartphones tanked globally but it surged high in China.

Huawei has developed its own HMS (Huawei Mobile Services) to fill the void left by GMS for global markets. However, the company’s AppGallery still lacks a number of most-used apps and most users depend on Google apps, which are not available on new Huawei/Honor smartphones anymore.

UP NEXT: Huawei teardown reveals US made parts were replaced by Chinese alternatives after the Ban

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