In 2022, Airbus sent more than 100 aircraft in China while Boeing delivered fewer than 10. Airbus took a slight lead over Boeing in the China market a decade ago, but the gap abruptly widened in 2019 after Boeing 737 MAX aircraft crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia due to defective flight control software. To put things in one comparative perspective, Japan’s Mitsubishi Regional Jet, also announced in 2007, has suffered numerous humiliating setbacks and was embarrassingly renamed Mitsubishi SpaceJet before it was altogether canceled in February of this year.Ī comparison with Boeing is also instructive. The Wall Street Journal, for one, reported the C919 “faces a steep path to success.”īut the fact remains that Comac’s assembling of a modern passenger aircraft marks a major Chinese accomplishment. The state-run Beijing Daily triumphantly declared: “After generations of endeavor, we finally broke the West’s aviation monopoly and rid ourselves of the humiliation of ‘800 million shirts for one Boeing.’”Ĭritics were quick to note that the C919’s engine, avionics and other key components are procured from US and European suppliers. I am so proud that China now has such advanced aircraft manufacturing industry.”
One passenger reputedly told China’s Communist Party-run Global Times: “I am so excited to be one of the first passengers to fly on the C919. The short- to medium-range plane is expected to go head to head soon with the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 for local sales and global markets.
China’s Comac C919 passenger jet made its first commercial flight from Shanghai to Beijing on May 28, completing a state-backed development, manufacturing and qualification process dating back to 2007 that now promises to shake up the global civil aviation business.Ĭhina Eastern Airlines, the local airline that flew the plane’s first flight, took delivery of the C919 last December.
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