People
wave Chinese flags as an ARJ21-700, China’s first domestically produced
regional jet, arrives at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport after making its
first flight from Chengdu to Shanghai on June 28, 2016. PHOTO: AFP
China’s first homegrown big passenger plane will make its maiden
voyage in the first half of this year, state media said Monday, as the
country seeks to challenge foreign giants Airbus and Boeing.
The C919 narrow-body jet is expected to “realise its blue-sky flight
dream” in the first six months of 2017, the People’s Daily newspaper
reported, with the installation of onboard systems almost completed.
The plane, produced by the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp of
China (COMAC), was originally scheduled to make its debut journey in
2015, but the date was repeatedly pushed back as it underwent additional
testing and certification.
For China, the aircraft represents at least eight years of effort in a state-mandated drive to reduce the country’s reliance on European plane maker Airbus and Boeing of the United States and compete directly against them for market share.
The first C919 rolled off the assembly line in November 2015 after
workers spent more than a year putting together the single-aisle
aircraft, which can seat 168 passengers.
It is hoped the plane will take market share in the lucrative segment
from the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320. In November COMAC said it had
received 570 orders from 23 customers.
China is one of the Western manufacturers’ key battlegrounds, with its travellers taking to the skies in ever-growing numbers.
The country’s airlines will need nearly 6,000 new planes worth $945
billion over the next two decades, Airbus said in its 2016-2035 Global
Market Forecast.
Boeing’s expectations are even more optimistic, for 6,800 aircraft costing $1 trillion.
To win favour locally both have built partnerships with Chinese
firms, even as Beijing hopes to oust them with homegrown aircraft.
Airbus has a completion and delivery centre in Tianjin, where workers
install furnishings and apply paint to aircraft for the domestic
market. It also buys parts such as exit doors, brake blades and wing
sections from Chinese suppliers.
Boeing last year announced plans to open a facility with COMAC to
paint and install cabins for 737-model planes, the Chinese firm said.
COMAC has also developed a smaller regional jet, the ARJ21, which took to the skies in its first commercial flight last June.
