China taking flight: COMAC C919

I honestly do not believe that the C919 will get FAA certified anytime soon. Maybe in the future it could be possible but if you look back at COMAC's (commercial aircraft corporation of China) earlier aircraft you will see that it is highly unlikely unless they really put forth the work. In a bid to challenge aviation giants Airbus and Boeing, China embarked on an ambitious mission to build their own aircraft, the COMAC C919 for civilian service. The COMAC C919 is the second aircraft model that is being built by the company with the first being the ARJ21 Advanced Regional Jet. (Powell, 2015) Currently, the Chinese are having difficulty with the certification of their regional jet, the ARJ21-700 which entered service this past June and has not received any FAA certifications. With its current specifications, the ARJ-21 failed to receive FAA certification which severely limits its markets as it can't be flown in the U.S. Some believe that the FAA is taking their time in the certification process because of political and economic issues between the FAA and the CAAC (Gavindasamy & Miller, 2015). Although there has been setbacks, according to some emails the FAA was reported to have said that, “The FAA enjoys a good working relationship with CAAC and will continue to work together to develop a path to work towards certification of the derivative model of the ARJ-21 and, possibly, the C919.” (Govindasamy and Miller, 2015) Even though there are difficulties with the manufacturing process, the FAA, “Could certify an airplane after it enters service if it can be shown to comply with all relevant airworthiness and manufacturing standards.” (Govindasamy and Miller, 2015) So it will not be anytime soon, if they do get FAA certified, it will be down the road in a few more years possibly.

Let’s say that by chance China is able to get certified by the FAA, I do not think that it will take off with the major airlines right away. According to a report by China National Radio in June predicted that C919 was likely to be priced at £32 million (US$50 million), which was up to 30 per cent cheaper than a Boeing 737 or an Airbus 320. (Mailonline, 2015) Now with the price of the aircraft I can see it being desirable for regional carriers or a company interested in starting up a 121 operation. I think the majors will hold off due to the fact that they would have to send their pilots to china, they would have to get all systems and the ops specs and MELS in English, it would be more pain then it is worth since already having Boeing and Airbus aircraft at their disposal. Now when you think of China, or things that are “Made in China,” you automatically think cheap, a knock off from the real deal. You go to china and spend 100 on a Rolex and then you think, “oh wait a minute? How does a Rolex cost so little?” Next thing you know it breaks in a week. So I think when the American population realize that our aircraft are coming from China they may hesitate in purchasing a ticket. So I think that Major airlines will wait and see how the airplane is for a certain number of years see how regional carriers operate it, if it is used in the US at all. 135 carriers might even try to get in on the aircraft and try and convert them into cargo planes to save cost on purchasing any 737s or 747s. So if they are introduced into the market with Airbus or Boeing then they are going to really step up their game.

Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC) is a state-owned limited liability company, which is formed with the approval of the State Council and jointly invested by State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) and was established on May 11, 2008 in Shanghai, China. Since they are owned by the government it means also that COMAC is all funded by China and so is the rest of the Chinese airlines so I believe there is a good relationship there. COMAC has the ARJ-21 which is a 90 passenger jet that made its' first flight commercial flight on June 28, 2016.

In my search through Google I have not really found anything on Airbus or Boeing responding about COMAC’s aircraft. I believe that is due to the fact that they know that it will not be much of a threat.

Refrences:

Govindasamy, S., Miller, M. (2015, October 21). Exclusive: china-made regional jet set for delivery, but no U.S. certification. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-aircraft-arj21-exclusive-idUSKCN0SF2XN20151021

COMAC. (n.d.). Company profile Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. Retrieved October 27, 2016, from http://english.comac.cc/aboutus/introduction/

Powell, S. (2015, November 9). China’s COMAC C919 aircraft running behind schedule – First commercial flight not before 2019. Retrieved October 27, 2016, from http://loyaltylobby.com/2015/11/09/chinas-comac-c919-aircraft-running-behind-schedule-first-commercial-flight-not-before-2019/#disqus_thread