While both Boeing and Airbus continue to rack up orders for its popular narrow-body jetliners, the 737 Max and the A320neo, China is preparing to stick its toes further into that pond as well, with the certification issued last week for its long-delayed C919 airliner.
The C919, with a passenger capacity around 168, has a strong order book, mainly from Chinese Airlines, but with expressions of interest from China’s trade partners, including Nigeria. But that hasn’t stopped a number of Chinese airlines from adding several hundred orders for Airbus planes, since full production of the C919 is still a while away.
But with Boeing essentially frozen out of the Chinese market because the 737 Max has not yet been recertified by China, and with China the world’s #2 market for new jets, there’s potential space for the C919 if it can move into production and be approved by regulators outside China for flights to other countries.
But the C919 is hardly a truly Chinese product, sourcing its engines and much of its avionics from western companies. That’s not necessarily an issue for now, although China has said it wants eventually to source everything locally.
The western components also limit sales to another country currently looking to buy new narrowbodies: Russia. Since Russia’s fleet of Airbus and Boeing planes are now cut off from parts and maintenance. However, sanctions would prevent them from using Chinese planes with western engines and components. Russia is pushing forward a narrowbody project of its own, re-engineering it to replace imported components with Russian.
