China Certifies C919 Passenger Jets For Competing With Airbus And Boeing

China's C919 jet plane. (Wikimedia Commons/Ken Chen)

JAKARTA - China held a ceremony on Thursday to certify its narrow C919 passenger jets, a major milestone in the country's ambition to challenge Airbus and Boeing in commercial space.

The aircraft, manufactured by state-owned company Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC), is widely expected to be certified by the end of the month, after two aircraft to Beijing on September 13.

A sign in one of the photos said "Efforts to issue C919 aircraft-type certificates" in Mandarin.

COMAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The C919 jet plane, launched 14 years ago and designed to transport up to 168 passengers, will compete with the families of Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX, the world's second-largest aviation market, as China seeks to increase its technology independence amid trade tensions.

Although the plane is assembled in China, it relies heavily on Western components, including machinery and avionics, from companies such as GE, Safran, and Honeywell International.

Strict US export licensing rules have led to delays in the procurement of spare parts, remains a major risk of increasing production until China replaces foreign machines and components with homemade technology.

Richard Aboulaphia, US-based managing director of Aero Dynamic Advisory, said the plane looked like a relic of an era that increased integration between China and the West.

"So, we have aircraft that are only made in China but are actually supported by Western technology and systems," he said.

"Changing it into a native Chinese plane would take more than a decade and billions of dollars."

The type of certificate granted on Thursday means it can be sent to first customer, China Eastern Airlines Corp Ltd, although local media reported the aircraft will likely not enter commercial services with passengers until next year.

C919 never appeared at the country's main flight event, China's Airshow. It was not clear whether the plane would be exhibited or flown at the event in November.

In addition, COMAC will also require a separate production certificate, before it can increase mass production of aircraft, meaning its impact on the global aircraft market could remain limited, given that Airbus and Boeing produce dozens of narrowbodies a month.

"C919 will gradually begin replacing single-aircrafts made by Boeing and Airbus," in China, a research note by Huaxi Securities said this month.

"In the next 20 years, China's demand for narrow passenger aircraft such as C919 will reach an average of 300 per year."

The co-star of the C919 regional jet, ARJ21, faces a 2.5-year gap between obtaining type certificates and production certificates, slowing production. That contrasts with the West, where both certificates are usually given around the same time.

Like ARJ21, C919 does not have certification validation by US and European regulators, restricting flights to domestic markets and possibly countries with close ties to China.

The EU Aviation Safety Board (EASA) has worked for years on a certification validation process in C919 with COMAC in parallel to CAAC's work, an EASA spokesperson said.

"We cannot comment on the date when this validation will be completed," the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Aviation Administration did not respond to requests for comment on potential C919 certification validation.

There are 815 orders for C919 out of 28 subscribers, according to the COMAC website. However, China Eastern is the only customer who has announced a definite delivery schedule and expects to receive only four years from now.

Meanwhile, the Boeing 737 MAX has not returned to commercial services in China, has been grounded since March 2019 following two fatal crashes.

However, three months ago a large Chinese airline ordered nearly 300 Airbus A320neo family aircraft, suggesting the country plans to resume imports for some time.

Aboulafia said that if China decided to stop importing Western aircraft, the United States and allied countries could kill C919 for years by banning component exports.

"Try making a plane without engines, or avionics. It will only be a metal shell," he said.