Air China and China Southern Airlines receive their first COMAC C919s
September 2, 2024
The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) delivered the first C919 airliners to Air China and China Southern Airlines on Wednesday 28 August. The two State-owned carriers will become the second and third local carriers to fly China’s indigenous C919. The first operator was China Eastern Airlines, which introduced the type into domestic service in May 2023, and which now operates seven of the aircraft.
China Eastern Airlines, the first operator, has carried out more than 3,600 commercial flights in the 15 consecutive months since its first commercial flight, carrying 400,000 passengers on five scheduled routes and logging 10,000 flying hours.
In the last year, China Eastern began flying a number of new routes including one between Shanghai and Beijing, participating in the Singapore Airshow and operating across the ‘rush period’ of the Chinese Lunar New Year. China Eastern has already signed an agreement with COMAC ordering an additional 100 C919s, beyond its initial five aircraft.
New operators
Air China signed a contract with COMAC for 100 C919 aircraft in April 2024, with deliveries scheduled between 2024 and 2031. The airline (China’s flag carrier) took delivery of its first C919 (B-919X) on 28 August, flying the aircraft from the Pudong Final Assembly and Manufacturing Centre at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport to its base at Beijing International Airport. There Air China welcomed the first domestically produced aircraft to be operated by the company with a traditional water cannon salute.
Air China set up specialized aircraft maintenance, crew training, and ground support teams in preparation for the arrival of its first C919, giving extensive training for pilots, dispatchers, cabin crew, and safety personnel, and developing robust maintenance and operational support systems.
Air China will now conduct a range of ground tests, emergency evacuation drills, and route validation flights, before operational certification and before commercial services begin.
The C919 normally seats up to 192 passengers, but those delivered to Air China are configured with 158 seats, eight business class and 150 economy class. The C919 is equipped with in-flight entertainment for each passenger.
China Southern Airlines received its first C919 (B-919J) on the same day, 28 August, flying the aircraft to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, where the aircraft was greeted with a similar water cannon salute after landing. China Southern ordered 100 C919s in April 2024, for delivery in batches between 2024 and 2031.
Air China and China Southern are each expected to receive two more C919s this year, and the first C919 delivery to a private airline, Shanghai-based Suparna Airlines, a subsidiary of China’s fourth biggest carrier Hainan Airlines is expected by the end of this year.
Suparna Airlines has 60 C919s on order, and plans to eventually operate an all-C919 fleet. China’s three big state-owned airlines have now each ordered 100 C919s, and COMAC has said more than 1,000 have been ordered overall.
COMAC is trying to break into a passenger airliner market that is dominated by Western manufacturers, with an aircraft in broadly the same class as the Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A320neo. Boeing’s annual Commercial Market Outlook predicted that China will more than double its commercial airliner fleet by 2043, and will require some 8,830 new airliners, giving the C919 a buoyant domestic market. One market report suggested that COMAC will be able to produce 100 aircraft annually by 2030, and that C919 production will exceed 1,000 aircraft by 2035, and 1,700 by 2042.
The company has also started marketing the C919 overseas, especially in Southeast Asia and in the growing aviation market in Saudi Arabia. Aviation consultancy Cirium gave the C919 a roughly 25% market share by 2042, compared to 45% for Airbus and 30% for Boeing.
He Dongfeng, COMAC chairman and Party chief, said that: “The C919 will operate more routes and cover more areas, and will bring more vitality to China’s civil aviation and even global civil aviation.”
COMAC is understood to be developing a wide-body airliner design.
Industry sources caution that COMAC is a long way from making inroads internationally, especially without benchmark
COMAC is pursuing certifications from the United States and the European Union, with EU certification reportedly expected in 2025, following a visit by EU regulators to Shanghai in July, according to the South China Morning Post.
