See China’s first domestic airliner, the Comac C919

• After 15 years of production, China’s first mainline aircraft was launched in May 2023.
• The C919 narrow-body jet hopes to secure its first order from a Western carrier, Reuters reported.
• China is relying on the C919 to make it less dependent on foreign-made technology from Airbus and Boeing.

Aerospace manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, or Comac, launched its first long-haul jet, the C919, in May 2023. It first flew with China Eastern Airlines.

Since the launch of its program, the C919 has garnered more than 1,000 orders from Chinese airlines, but it is trying to break into the Western market and break the decades-old Airbus-Boeing duopoly.

However, the manufacturer faces challenges in its quest to become less dependent on Western technology, such as US sanctions restrictions. The reliability and performance of the C919 also has a lot to prove to compete with the next-generation Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 families.