China’s first modern passenger jet took off on its maiden test flight, giving wings to President Xi Jinping’s ambition of turning China into an advanced economy.
As onlookers cheered and clicked photos, the C919 airliner left the runway at Pudong international airport in Shanghai, the home base of its builder Commercial Aircraft Corp of China Ltd (Comac).
The single-aisle plane, which is designed to seat as many as 174 people, is slated to enter commercial service with China Eastern Airlines in 2019.
The test flight, after repeated delays, marks another step in Xi’s ambitious ‘Made in China 2025’ programme, which identified aerospace among sectors that could accelerate China’s advancement. The government has said the ability to build and fly a large commercial aircraft is the “flower’’ and “pearl’’ of modern manufacturing.
The C919 would be the first competitor for Airbus and Boeing in the most popular sector of the airliner market and gives Comac a home advantage in what is set to become the world’s biggest aircraft market.
Boeing estimates China will need 6,810 aircraft worth more than $1 trillion in the two decades through 2035.
“There’s a lot riding on the C919,’’ said Xu Yongling, a military test pilot and a member of the Beijing-based Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics. “The expectation for the C919 is not to become the best-selling single-aisle aircraft in the market, but rather become a stepping stone for Comac to build something better, with indigenous technology.’’
Getting into the major league with Airbus and Boeing may be a few decades away as customers typically prefer aircraft with proven track record, reliability and safety, analysts said. Comac is seeking certification for the C919 from European agencies.
Almost 1 billion people will fly to, from or within China by 2025, the International Air Transport Association estimates. Over the next two decades, about 75%t of the jets ferrying those passengers will be single-aisle -- a category dominated by Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’s A320 family.
China is looking at that business and saying “Why should I stand that out? I’d like a piece of that, serving my own market,” said Jeff Rollins, vice president at Honeywell, one of the equipment suppliers to the C919. “It’s also pride. China wants to have the same industrial economic capabilities as a lot of other leading nations.”
“The C919 is a testament to China’s civil aviation research and manufacturing capability,” said Yu Zhanfu, executive director at Roland Berger Management Consultants Shanghai Co. “China’s had a lot of success in making rockets, making spaceships. It shows the country is capable of mega tech-intensive manufacturing projects.”
Spectators take photos of a C919, China's first large passenger jet, as it takes off on its maiden flight at Pudong international airport in Shanghai on Friday. (AP photo)