Chinese-made jet breaks through 1000 orders from airlines and leasing companies

The first Chinese-made narrow-body jet is attracting plenty of orders but don’t expect Qantas to add the C919 to its fleet.

The Airbus A320 was the most used aircraft in the world in 2022, clocking up 562 billion available seat kilometres.

A new Chinese-made single-aisle jet designed to rival Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s is attracting plenty of orders but don’t expect Qantas to add the C919 to its fleet.

The state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) has produced the C919 after almost 15 years in development, in an effort to end Airbus’ and Boeing’s global duopoly.

According to the Mercator Institute of China Studies, COMAC now has more than 1000 orders for the aircraft, and that number is rising.

Most of those have come from Chinese airlines and leasing companies, including the US-based GE Capital Aviation Services which has ordered 20 C919s.

Airline Intelligence and Research chief executive Tony Weber said if leasing companies were buying the aircraft there was clearly a market for C919s beyond China.

“I think it’s like the Chinese motor vehicles – if it’s good enough value for money and the right configuration, it’s going to attract some interest,” Dr Weber said.

“I would think low-cost carriers in particular would be looking at this aircraft if it’s 50 to 60 per cent cheaper than other similar models.”

A model of the COMAC C919 single-aisle aircraft. Picture: AFP

Designed to seat between 158 and 192 passengers, the C919 has a slightly shorter range than its well-established rivals at between 4075km and 5555km, making it ideal for domestic flights.

Currently priced at $150m, the aircraft is similar in cost to new 737 Max 8s and A321neos, perhaps due to the fact many of the parts were from outside of China.

These included the fuel systems, landing gear and most of the electronics from the US, and the wing anti-icing system from France.

China Eastern Airlines took delivery of the first C919 in December but is yet to fly the plane commercially, despite having another four on order.

Dr Weber said other airlines would likely be waiting to see how the C919 performed over several years before taking the plunge.

“Qantas won’t go anywhere near it,” he predicted. “Having a Chinese carrier in your fleet would be a hard sell for a full service carrier that relies heavily on their safety record.”

China's C919 jetliner prepares to take off from Pudong International Airport in Shanghai on its maiden test flight. Picture: AFP

Griffith Institute of Tourism deputy director Gui Lohmann said international politics was also not on the C919’s side given tensions between China and the US, plus a number of other countries.

“We saw how the US airlines essentially boycotted A380s. The aircraft became politicised and this is likely to be not too dissimilar,” Professor Lohmann said.

“On the other hand, China is an important investor in a lot of growing economies so they may well insist their products are imported.”

Given Qantas last year lodged an order with Airbus for 40 single-aisle aircraft and 12 A350-1000s, the airline was not in the market for any more new planes.

Low-cost carriers in the region could be a different story however, and Airbus executive vice-president of corporate affairs Julie Kitcher said the company would not be complacent.

“We’ve enjoyed for many years now a situation where there are two strong players in the industry,” Ms Kitcher said of Airbus and rival Boeing.

“But we played catch-up ourselves many years ago now to get to that shared leadership position so we’re not complacent, and of course we’re watching (the C919) with interest.”

Originally published as Chinese-made jet breaks through 1000 orders from airlines and leasing companies