The announcement from China that it has orders for its first
commercial jet is a clear challenge to giant manufacturers Boeing
and Airbus, industry officials say.
"Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) said it had
received orders for 100 of its C919 planes from the country's
largest airlines, and at least one foreign company, throwing down
the gauntlet to the US and European duopoly," reported
Reuters.
COMAC said it had received orders from General Electric's
aircraft leasing arm GECAS, as well as China's CDB Leasing.
It said other buyers included China's top three airlines, Air
China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, as well
as HNA Group, parent of Hainan Airlines.
"As the country's first home-grown large commercial aircraft,
the C919 has a designed capacity of up to 168 seats and is aimed at
competing with Boeing's 737 and Airbus's A320, the world's most
popular models in the narrow-body segment," Reuters said.
The state-owned COMAC is building large passenger aircraft with a
capacity of more than 150 passengers to reduce the country's
dependency on Boeing and Airbus, industry officials say.
