China’s new single-aisle aircraft, the Comac C919, has amassed its first 100 orders and a heavyweight team of international suppliers as it heads for a scheduled first flight just three years from now and service entry in 2016. Only a scale model is on show here at Le Bourget this week, but the program represents nothing less than China’s first serious bid to hit the international air transport big time.
The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Hall 5, Stand B244) was established in May 2008 with former defense technology minister Zhang Qingwei as chairman. Its aim is to help meet the country’s need for large numbers of new aircraft to connect fast-growing cities in far-flung provinces. Last November, while formally launching the C919 at the Zhuhai airshow, the company put the requirement at 2,950 single-aisle 150-seaters, 802 widebodies and 687 regional jets over the next 20 years, based on annual revenue passenger mile growth of 7.7 percent.
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