First Chinese Jetliner Makes Debut

China’s aviation ambitions received a big boost as customers ordered 100 of its first commercial jetliner, the C919.

State-owned manufacturer COMAC, or Commercial Aircraft Corp of China, announced the orders at the Zhuhai Airshow Tuesday, two years after launching designs for the 150-seat aircraft.

COMAC said orders came from four Chinese airlines, and the leasing arm of General Electric, which will supply the jet engines.

Air China, China Eastern, China Southern and Hainan Airlines were named as buyers, but officials did not give a value nor a breakdown of the orders by airline.

With travel demand expected to grow, the planemaker’s chief accountant Tian Min is bullish about future prospects.

[Tian Min, Chief Accountant, Comac]:
„The size of the market would be an important factor to how much your investment would be. So as we have seen from the market forecast, in the future we expect to see three thousand new planes here in China and more than 30 thousand new planes globally. So this is a very big market.“

Tian adds that over 70 percent of demand will be for planes in the larger category, meaning 150 seats or more.

The global aviation market is worth $1.7 trillion and COMAC is keen to capture a slice of the large passenger jet market from Boeing and Airbus.

The 100-plane order marks the first time buyers have committed to the aircraft.

COMAC expects to start building the C919 next year, followed by a maiden flight in 2014 and first delivery in 2016.

Airbus for one has welcomed the competition, with Airbus China president Laurence Barron saying he accepts that China would push its own aircraft maker.

[Laurence Barron, President, Airbus China]:
„It’s unfair competition, no. If the aircraft is a good aircraft, it will sell. Also, we believe the market here is big enough so that there is room for another competitor. But, as I’ve said earlier, competition is not something that really concerns us. We’ve always had to deal with it.“

But efforts to win international support took a surprising turn, when foreign journalists were barred from the signing ceremony.

Foto: NTDTV