For the time being, China's first passenger aircraft, the C919, will only take off from domestic airports. © Ding Ting/IMAGO
China's first passenger plane has made its maiden commercial flight. However, the machine "Made in China" still remains dependent on foreign technology.
This analysis is IPPEN. MEDIA in the course of a cooperation with the China.Table Professional Briefing – it was first published by China.Table on May 30, 2023.
Shanghai – China's first domestically designed passenger aircraft made its maiden commercial flight on Sunday (May 28). The C919 of the state-owned Chinese manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) flew from Shanghai Hongqiao to the capital airport in Beijing in just under two hours, accompanied by great media hype.
The medium-haul aircraft, which is in the service of the state-sponsored airline China Eastern Airlines, landed 40 minutes before the scheduled arrival time "without any problems" in the capital, reported the broadcaster CCTV. There were 130 passengers on board, who were received with a solemn ceremony after landing. Their boarding passes had been specially designed for the occasion in the red of the national flag as collector's items.
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China wants to break duopoly of Airbus and Boeing
For China, the scheduled flight of the Comac aircraft is both a milestone and a prestige project. With the C919, Beijing wants to make itself independent of Western technology, but in the long term it also wants to break the duopoly of Boeing and Airbus. Asia, and China in particular, are important markets for both European Airbus and U.S. competitor Boeing, as the demand for air travel is steadily increasing due to the growing middle class in the region.
According to the World Bank, between 2000 and the peak in 2019, passenger air traffic in China increased more than tenfold, from 62 million to 660 million passengers. Boeing predicts that around 2040,8 new passenger aircraft will be needed in China alone by 600. Airbus had recently announced that it would double production capacities at its plant in Tianjin.
Prestige project with obstacles
The construction and development of the aircraft, which looks similar to Airbus' A320, posed major challenges for the planners. Completion was postponed several times, and the budget of the original eight billion euros was increased at least three times. The original goal of the state-owned company, founded in 2008, to put the machine into service in 2016, was missed by far.
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The actual maiden flight of the C919, which has a range of around 5,633 kilometers, was already completed in 2017. At that time, however, there were no passengers. Further flight tests had become necessary. According to a report by Reuters, cracks formed on the horizontal stabilizer during the test phase in 2020. The final approval from the civil aviation authority CAAC then took place in autumn 2022.
Many of the components of the C919, including the engines and parts of the on-board electronics, come from numerous suppliers in several countries, as is usual with aircraft. A list by the specialist portal Airframer shows that of the 82 most important suppliers of the C919, more than half come from the USA, just under a third from Europe and only 17 percent from China. And even half of the most important Chinese suppliers are joint ventures with foreign partners. According to experts, one could not speak of an aircraft "Made in China", as the government is striving for. In addition, foreign companies have not supplied their latest technology to the Chinese aircraft manufacturer for fear of an outflow of knowledge.
No certification in the U.S. and Europe
According to earlier reports from state media, Cumac plans to build and deliver 150 C919 aircraft annually over the next five years. According to the manufacturer, it has already received more than 1,200 orders for the C919, all from Chinese state-owned airlines. However, according to reports, these are mainly declarations of intent.
For the time being, the aircraft is not certified abroad. Initially, the C919 will be a success story on the domestic market. Since Monday, it has been used on China Eastern's regular route between Shanghai and the southwestern city of Chengdu, CCTV reports.
Next, Comac plans to expand into the Asian market. Comac has already produced the ARJ21 short-haul aircraft, which is used by Chinese airlines and Indonesia's TransNusa. In cooperation with the Russian aviation company UAC, Comac is also planning to build the CR929 wide-body aircraft with two passenger aisles and a range of 12,000 kilometers. However, the originally planned maiden flight for 2025 has already been postponed by five years due to numerous problems. (By Fabian Peltsch)
