China’s C919: orders fly in for home-grown passenger jet at the country’s biggest air show
- The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) has secured orders from seven local leasing firms for 300 of its C919 planes
- Comac has said it plans to deliver the first of its narrow-body passenger jets to China Eastern Airlines by the end of this year
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China debuts potential Boeing-Airbus rival as its biggest air show kicks off
Chinese passenger jet manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) has secured orders from seven leasing firms for 300 of its narrow-body C919 planes, a little over a month after it was certified to fly.
The state-owned company made the announcement at China’s biggest air show in Zhuhai on Tuesday, adding it had also received orders for 30 ARJ21, a short haul 90-seater passenger jet.
Comac has said it plans to deliver the first C919 passenger jet to China Eastern Airlines by the end of this year. The Shanghai-based airline ordered four of the aircraft in May at a cost of US$99 million each.
Yang Yang, deputy general manager of sales and marketing at Comac, told the Shanghai-based news portal The Paper that the company will plan its production capacity for the C919 after it has “fully communicated with the airlines”.
Earlier on Tuesday, the narrow-body passenger jet took to the skies at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition – its first appearance at the biennial air show, which also featured military aircraft such as the J-20 stealth fighter and YU-20 aerial tanker.