The COMAC C919 Achieves Certification & Looks to the Future
|
Modified: June 2023
|
|
The COMAC C919 is China's great hope for its homegrown airliner industry. Whereas the ARJ21 was largely obsolete by the time it flew, and as much a proof of concept as a competitive airliner, the C919 is very much designed to compete against the Boeing 737 MAX and A320neo - in China at least. Unsurprisingly the programme has suffered its fair share of delays but towards the end of 2022 it achieved domestic certification and is now in airline service with its first customer.
Back in March NG Models very kindly sent me their model of the first C919 and included along with it a delightful set of metal badges made acquired from COMAC themselves and designed to celebrate the certification of the aircraft. I'll use these pieces to illustrate this article, alongside an older Panda Models house colours C919 in my collection.
Announcement to Certification
Creating a domestic airliner (even one full of foreign components) is a major undertaking and the development of the C919 has unsurprsingly been longer than the Chinese would have hoped. The first development plan for the aircraft was approved way back in 2007 with original first flight expected in 2014 and delivery in 2016. The project costs have more than doubled from an original estimated $9.5 billion to over $20 billion. I suspect ultimately none of this matters as the C919 is another positive step in China's growth towards becoming a major aerospace provider.
Above: The certification badges are metal and come in this delightful box
|
|
Programme delays meant that the first flight of the C919 occurred only on May 5, 2017 but COMAC was optimistic that the flight test programme could be completed for service entry in 2020. This proved incorrect and completion of the prototypes proved a lot slower. Nonetheless, all six test programme aircraft were completed by the end of 2019 only for the Covid pandemic to intercede and delay things further.
Some of the flight testing phases have short Youtube videos available for them:
Tail Strike Tests
|
|
Natural Icing Tests
|
|
Water Ingestion Tests
|
|
Flight tests were completed in late July 2022 leaving just the paperwork to be done for the C919 to receive Type Certification. The aircraft finally achieved approval from the Civil Aircraft Administration of China (CAAC) on September 29, 2022 (the announcement was made the following day). Obviously this was a massive milestone for the C919 and the Chinese aviation industry, but in many ways it was also just the next step in making the aircraft a success.
Into Service
Obviously production had not reached the originally proposed 150 aircraft per year by 2020 but with the technical hurdles crossed and the impact of the pandemic weathered getting the first C919 to the first customer in early 2023 still feels like a real achievement. The first production aircraft was registered B-001J and painted into China Eastern Airlines colours as early as May 2022.
This aircraft was re-registered as, fittingly, B-919A on December 9, 2022 and delivered to China Eastern in Shanghai Hongqiao. It is one of only 5 C919s that China Eastern has on order and it does seem like the delivery of the remaining four will be elongated over a longer period than originally planned. The aircraft is configured with 164 seats two class seating arrangement (8 business class and 156 economy). This compares to 158 seats on their A320s and 158-172 on their 737-800s.
Service entry has been quite elongated also and it wasn't until May 28, 2023 that China Eastern put its sole C919 into service. Following the grand opening ceremony the aircraft operated MU9191 from Shanghai Hongqiao to Beijing Capital, a flight of under three hours.
Standard service with the C919 is now on the Shanghai-Chengdu route with a daily service as MU9197/98.
The Future
Whether the C919 can achieve China's ultimate aims remains unclear. It is obviously designed to break up the Airbus / Boeing duopoly but the chances of that happening within China, let alone the rest of the world, seems rather remote. One of the issues is the aircraft's price. Originally it was intended to be substantially cheaper than the competition, however the initial projected purchase price of $50 million has more than doubled to $101 million - not far from the price of the Western jets.
Another substantial issue is the operational challenges that come from a new airframe manufacturer being able to support its aircraft in service - spare parts, technical support and qualified pilots will all be issues for some time. Add to this that it is not certified outside of China at present and it is little surprise that the majority of orders come from Chinese firms or leasing companies.
Orders from Chinese airlines are rather thin on the ground. In fact, outside of China Eastern's five it is hard to discern just how firm a lot of the other 'orders' really are. The order list looks impressive with 'orders' for 1,200 aircraft if you believe COMAC. Technically Air China, China Southern, Hebei Airlines, The HNA group, Joy Air and Sichuan Airlines have all stated they have aircraft on order but some, or all, of these orders appear unfirmed. April 2023's order for aircraft for HNA Group's Suparna Airlines and Urumqi Airlines is a good step but even that does not constitiute a finalised firm order yet. Certainly Chinese airlines have shown little interest in stopping the acquisiton of 737s and, especially, Airbuses.
The final issue likely to impact the C919 is international relations. The C919 is very much not a Chinese airliner. The aircraft is heavily reliant on foreign Western technology - especially engines and avionics. China has been trying to level this playing field, helped by undertaking industrial espionage at suppliers, but the aircraft is still reliant on the West. US sanctions have impacted the testing timeline and worsening relations with the USA have the potential to kill the entire programme.
Clearly the C919 is a major step on China's pathway to becoming self-sustaining in the field of aerospace design and unlike the ARJ21 it does represent a competitive product. It seems clear the C919 will take up a proportion of orders in China but for true success it seems likely a future homegrown airliner will be the necessary next step.
References
2022, Sept - Bailey, J. COMAC’s C919 Receives Type Certification In Beijing Ceremony. Simple Flying
2022 Oct - Chua, A. Beyond C919 Certification euphoria Comac confronts sobering realities. Flight Global
2022, Dec - China Eastern takes delivery of the world's first made-in-China C919 jet. Reuters
2023, Apr - Cross L. COMAC C919 Receives Order from Urumqi Air. Airways
2023, May - Klisauskaite, V. China Eastern Conducts COMAC C919’s 1st Commercial Flight. Simple Flying
2022, Sept - Bailey, J. COMAC’s C919 Receives Type Certification In Beijing Ceremony. Simple Flying
2022 Oct - Chua, A. Beyond C919 Certification euphoria Comac confronts sobering realities. Flight Global
2022, Dec - China Eastern takes delivery of the world's first made-in-China C919 jet. Reuters
2023, Apr - Cross L. COMAC C919 Receives Order from Urumqi Air. Airways
2023, May - Klisauskaite, V. China Eastern Conducts COMAC C919’s 1st Commercial Flight. Simple Flying