China’s widebody C929 jet lands first buyer at top-flight Zhuhai air show
The home-grown C929, still under development, was the subject of a preliminary purchase agreement at China’s premier air show
China’s largest aircraft manufacturer had a banner day at the opening of the country’s pre-eminent air show, as flag carrier Air China signed a preliminary agreement to buy the company’s yet-unseen widebody jet and a slew of orders came in for the narrowbody models already flying commercial routes.
The deal, finalised on Tuesday at the China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai, marked a milestone in Beijing’s quest to break into an industry dominated by two Western producers – Airbus and Boeing – and send planes of its own on long-haul international flights.
An eventual purchase order would make Air China the first client for Shanghai-based manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China’s (Comac) 280-seat planes, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday.
Comac expects the C929 to be able to fly as far as 12,000km (7,456 miles) – longer than the distance from Beijing to New York – and has set 2027 as a deadline for making deliveries to customers.
