Opinion

Why the C919 is more than just an aircraft for China

With its home-grown passenger jet, Comac is trying to break into a long-standing aviation duopoly, while China hopes to turn a unipolar world order into a more multipolar one

The C919’s first voyage is a bittersweet success, though, because US-China tensions mean it won’t be able to compete with Boeing and Airbus in their backyard

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China’s first domestically produced passenger jet, the C919, is seen before a flight from Shanghai to Beijing at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport on May 28. Its first commercial flight was a milestone event in the nation’s decades-long effort to compete with Western rivals in aviation. Photo: AFP

Stanley Chao is the author of “Selling to China” (2018) and managing director for All In Consulting, assisting companies in their China business strategies.

Published: 4:30pm, 23 Jun 2023

Finally, and with much fanfare, China’s first large home-grown passenger jet made its inaugural commercial flight last month. Produced by the Commercial Aircraft Company of China (Comac), the C919 jet embodies China’s rise to prominence on the world’s stage and reinforces its national pride and self-reliance.

To be sure, the C919’s flight from Shanghai to Beijing came after years of delays, cost overruns, engineering snafus and, more recently, US sanctions. China and its aviation industry have more work to do to garner respect and acceptance from the rest of the world, yet I speak from personal experience when I say that the sceptics would be wise to hedge their bets.

I myself once doubted whether the C919 would come to fruition. In 2013, when I worked as a consultant for Western companies supplying aviation technology to the C919, I wrote the following in Aviation Week: “I don’t think I’ll live long enough to one day step onto a C919 at Beijing Capital International Airport on its way to Chengdu or Shanghai.”