China’s aircraft manufacturer is on track to be a major rival to Boeing and Airbus, says IATA boss

The world’s airline industry boss has endorsed China’s aircraft manufacturer, predicting Comac will be a ‘global player’ and rival to Airbus and Boeing.

International Air Transport Association director general Willie Walsh has predicted the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China will be a global player within the next 10 to 15 years. Picture: Money Sharma/AFP

The head of the powerful international airlines association has endorsed the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China as a global player and serious rival to Boeing and Airbus.

Representatives of Comac attended the International Air Transport Association summit in Delhi at a time when frustration is running high with the established manufacturers given delays in new aircraft deliveries.

Airline CEOs including Qantas’ Vanessa Hudson and Emirates’ Tim Clark have already indicated they would consider buying aircraft from Comac once current orders with Boeing and Airbus were filled.

Speaking on the sidelines of the world transport summit in Delhi, International Air Transport Association director-general Willie Walsh said Comac was shaping up to be an important player in the market with its narrowbody C919 aircraft.

Considered China’s answer to Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’s A320 aircraft, the C919 can seat up to 192 passengers, and has been operating domestically since May 2023.

“The 919 is still very young in terms of its commercial service, but feedback is very positive from the airlines operating it,” said Mr Walsh.

“We stay in touch with China Eastern in particular, and they share feedback with us in terms of the operational performance and customer reaction to the aircraft, all of which are very positive.”

IATA director general Willie Walsh at the IATA forum in Delhi.

The main barriers to expansion for Comac included restrictions on the sale of US engine technology to China, and the certification by the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Mr Walsh said clearly those hurdles needed to be overcome for Comac to be a global player, but he was convinced it was only a matter of time.

“If I was Comac, I’d keep (international certification) for some stage in the future because the domestic market demand in China for the product is going to be very strong for some considerable time,” Mr Walsh said.

“My view is that in 10, 15, 20 years, Comac is going to be a global player, and we’ll stop just talking about Boeing and Airbus. It will be Airbus, Boeing, Comac and then of course we have Embraer there as well, but Comac is definitely going to be a feature of the industry in the future.”

To date, more than 1000 orders for C919s have been lodged with Comac by airlines including Air China, China Eastern and China Southern.

China put its C919 aircraft on display at the 2024 Singapore Airshow. Picture: Roslan Rahman/AFP

The ticket price is believed to be around US$68.4m, or AU$105m, making it significantly cheaper than a US$107m ($165m) Boeing 737 Max 8 or a US$110m A321neo.

Given the success of Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Build Your Dreams, which outsold Tesla last year, airline leaders know not to discount China’s ability to produce a worthy contender to western aircraft.

“The Chinese are pretty good at getting things sorted out,” said Sir Tim in January. “They’re very good at reverse engineering anything you like.”

Ms Hudson has also previously welcomed the emerging competitor and said Qantas would “watch how they perform with great interest”.

It comes as aircraft deliveries by Airbus and Boeing again threatened to fall short of targets, according to aviation analytics company Cirium.

A report released at the IATA summit, said in the first four months of 2025, 359 aircraft had been delivered in total which was only 25 per cent of the target of 1430, compared to 27 to 28 per cent at the same time for each of the past three years.

The writer was a guest of IATA in Delhi.