Global Courant 2023-05-31 15:44:34
China’s Comac C919 airliner made its first commercial flight from Shanghai to Beijing on May 28, completing a state-backed 2007 development, manufacturing and qualification process that now promises to revolutionize global civil aviation.
China Eastern Airlines, the local airline that made the plane’s maiden flight, took delivery of the C919 last December. The short- to medium-haul airliner is expected to soon compete with the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 for local sales and global markets.
A passenger reportedly told the Chinese Communist Party-led Global Times: “I am so excited to be one of the first passengers to fly on the C919. I am so proud that China now has such an advanced aircraft manufacturing industry.”
The state-run Beijing Daily declared triumphantly, “After generations of effort, we have finally broken the West’s aviation monopoly and freed ourselves from the humiliation of ‘800 million shirts for one Boeing’.”
Critics were quick to note that the C919’s engine, avionics, and other major components come from US and European suppliers. For example, The Wall Street Journal reported that the C919 is “on a steep road to success.”
But the fact remains that Comac’s assembly of a modern airliner is a major Chinese achievement.
To put things in one comparative perspective, Japan’s Mitsubishi Regional Jet, also announced in 2007, has endured numerous humiliating setbacks and was embarrassingly renamed Mitsubishi SpaceJet before being completely canceled in February of this year.
A comparison with Boeing is also instructive. Airbus took a slight lead over Boeing in the Chinese market a decade ago, but the gap widened abruptly in 2019 after Boeing 737 MAX planes crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia due to faulty flight control software.
In 2022, Airbus sent more than 100 aircraft to China, while Boeing delivered fewer than 10. Trade tensions between the US and China also appear to have contributed to Boeing’s poor performance in China, where Airbus has no such problem.
Airbus now accounts for more than 50% of commercial aircraft in service in China and looks set to maintain or increase its market share with the establishment of a second A320 assembly line at its factory in Tianjin, China.
The agreement that sets this in motion was signed in early April during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to China. Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury was one of about 60 French businessmen who accompanied Macron.
An Airbus A320neo aircraft under construction for delivery to China Southern Airlines. Credit: Airbus.
While the 737 MAX is now back in service and China Southern Airlines reportedly plans to order 103 new aircraft from Boeing (and 111 from Airbus), Aviation Week data shows that 697 C919 aircraft have been ordered, most of them of Chinese airlines and leasing companies. .
If current trends continue, it appears that Comac could soon overtake and likely will overtake Boeing to become China’s second-largest supplier of commercial aircraft.
Of course, this will depend on whether or not Comac can assemble hundreds of aircraft on time to meet delivery schedules while avoiding the quality issues that have plagued Boeing. In April, Boeing announced that deliveries of a number of 737 MAX aircraft had been delayed due to quality problems at US subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems.
The Chinese government wants the C919 to control 10% of China’s domestic commercial aircraft market by 2025. In five years, Comac wants to produce 150 C919 aircraft per year. China Eastern is reportedly set to take delivery of its second C919 in June.
However, there are concerns that the US Department of Commerce will try to ground the C919 by imposing new export restrictions on its US suppliers.
In January 2021, then-President Donald Trump had the Department of Defense add Comac to the list of companies owned or controlled by the Chinese military. As a result, US investment in Comac was banned.
In April of this year, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida sent a letter to Secretary of State for Commerce for Industry and Security Alan Estevez complaining about the department’s failure to add Comac to its military end-user list (MEU).
The senators wrote that:
“COMAC also works closely with Western aerospace companies, including companies that manufacture jet engines and many other components used in commercial and military aircraft. Given the CCP’s (Chinese Communist Party) commitment to acquiring dual-use aerospace technologies through trade and forced joint ventures and partnerships, these companies, and by extension, U.S. national security, are at risk.”
For reference: Comac is owned by the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council of China (the main governing body of the People’s Republic), the state-owned investment company Shanghai Guo Sheng, Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC, which is listed on the MEU list), Aluminum Corporation of China, China Baowu Steel, Sinochem, China Electronics Technology and other companies.
So far it is not clear whether the US Department of Commerce will heed Rubio and Scott’s complaint. If so, several US companies could be affected, including GE, Honeywell, Rockwell Collins and Parker Aerospace.
The Global Times noted that “The maiden commercial flight of China’s first domestically-manufactured large passenger jet … ushers in a new era for cooperation between Chinese manufacturers and foreign companies.”
If that optimistic view were quashed, an aggressive nationalistic response would be almost certain, to the detriment of US airlines and in favor of their Chinese competitors and Airbus. Mass production of the C919 would be delayed, but not stopped.
The cockpit of the C919 is being developed by China’s Aeronautical Radio Electronics Research Institute and will feature integrated 15.4-inch avionics Display Head units sourced from Barco Display Systems of Atlanta, Georgia. Credit: Comac.
As Wang Yanan, editor-in-chief of China’s Aerospace Knowledge magazine, puts it, “We need to have our own production capabilities for regional jets and large commercial jets.”
About 200 Chinese subcontractors supply the fuselage, wings, forged parts and other basic components and materials of the C919. Avionics and engines are likely to follow, with or without US sanctions.
Aero Engine Corporation of China is already developing an alternative to the LEAP jet engine manufactured by CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aviation of the US and Safran Aircraft Engines of France that powers the C919.
The question is, does the US want to participate in or decouple from the world’s most promising civil aviation market?
Follow this writer on Twitter: @ScottFo83517667
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