Made-in-China passenger jet set to take wing

Yahoo – AFP, Albee ZHANG, May 3, 2017

The C919's test flight comes after almost a decade of effort by Chinese
 authrorities to build a domestic aviation giant and reduce reliance on
Boeing and Airbus

China is expected within days to carry out the maiden test flight of a home-grown passenger jet built to meet soaring Chinese travel demand and challenge the dominance of Boeing and Airbus.

The C919, built by state-owned aerospace manufacturer Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), was set to take wing over Shanghai and could be cleared for takeoff as early as Friday, according to state media.

The narrow-body jet represents nearly a decade of effort in a state-mandated drive to reduce dependence on European consortium Airbus and US aerospace giant Boeing.

"The first flight itself is not a huge deal. (But) of course, it's going to be a hugely symbolic moment in the evolution of China's aviation industry," said Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor at industry publication Flightglobal.

The C919 is the country's first big passenger plane and the latest sign of growing Chinese ambition and technical skill, coming one week after China launched its first domestically made aircraft carrier and successfully docked a cargo spacecraft with an orbiting space lab.

The C919 can seat 168 passengers and has a range of up to 5,555 kilometres (3,444 miles).

Long way to go

China is a huge battleground for Boeing and Airbus, with its travellers taking to the skies in ever-growing numbers.

China homegrown jet

The Chinese travel market is expected to surpass the United States by 2024, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Airbus has estimated Chinese airlines will need nearly 6,000 new planes over the next two decades, while Boeing foresees 6,800 aircraft. Both put the combined price tags for those planes at around $1 trillion.

But aviation analysts said Shanghai-based COMAC has a long journey ahead before it can challenge the lock held on the market by Boeing and Airbus.

"This is an important milestone for China with this new aircraft. But for it to move to the next stage, which is to sell this product, is not going to be so easy," said Shukor Yusof, an analyst with Malaysia-based aviation consultancy Endau Analytics.

But COMAC may be able to rely on purchases by fast-growing Chinese airlines as it looks to get sales off the ground.

COMAC had already received 570 orders by the end of last year, almost all from domestic airlines.

Waldron agreed it will take time, but said that over the next century China will become a world aviation player.

"You are going to have three big companies. You will have Boeing, you will have Airbus, and you will have COMAC," he said.

Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) had already 

received 570 orders by the end of last year, almost all from domestic airlines

China has dreamed of building its own civil aircraft since the 1970s, when it began work on the narrow-body Y-10, which was eventually deemed unviable and never entered service.

COMAC's first regional jet, the 90-seat ARJ 21, entered service in 2016, several years late.

Long-haul ambition

The ARJ 21 is currently restricted to flying Chinese domestic routes as it still lacks the crucial US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification that would allow it to fly US skies.

The C919's first test flight had been due to take place in 2016 but was delayed.

Besides the C919, China is also working with Russia to develop a long-haul wide-bodied jet called the C929.

Although the C919 is made in China, foreign firms are playing key roles by supplying systems as well as the engines, which are made by CFM International, a joint venture between General Electric (GE) of the US and France's Safran.

During a visit to COMAC in 2014, President Xi Jinping said not having a homegrown plane left China at the mercy of foreign industrial groups, state media reported at the time.

China last August launched a new multi-billion dollar jet-engine conglomerate with nearly 100,000 employees, with the hope of powering its own planes with self-made engines.

After the C919's first flight, it will still need to pass a series of tests to obtain Chinese airworthiness certification before it can sell the aircraft.

China also has for years been in talks with the FAA to obtain certification for both the ARJ 21 and the C919, without result.

#UPDATE Chinese-built large passenger plane takes off on maiden test flight https://t.co/ZCRMBzxaf9 pic.twitter.com/DcQ2rQZRaJ

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 5, 2017

Japan's first passenger jet makes maiden test flight

Yahoo – AFP, Quentin Tyberghien, November 11, 2015

Japan's Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) takes off on its maiden test flight

from Nagoya airport, on November 11, 2015 (AFP Photo/Kazuhiro Nogi)

Japan's first passenger jet made its maiden test flight Wednesday, a landmark in a decade-long programme to launch the plane aimed at competing with Brazilian and Canadian rivals in the global market for smaller aircraft.

About half a century after the last Japanese-made commercial plane took to the skies, the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ), painted with dark blue, red and beige stripes, took off from Nagoya airport under clear skies for a 90-minute trip.

After being barred from developing aircraft following World War II, Japan -- and its MRJ jet -- is competing with other regional passenger jet manufacturers such as Brazil's Embraer and Canada's Bombardier.

Hiromichi Morimoto, president of Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp -- a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries -- voiced his delight and relief at the successful flight.

"We were able to see the beautiful fuselage of the MRJ taking off into the sunny autumn sky," he told a press conference.

"The fact that I was able to see that with you, as someone who was involved in its development, there is no greater joy."

Its pilot also praised the jet.

"The operation performance of the MRJ was far better than expected," Yoshiyuki Yasumura said, according to a Mitsubishi Aircraft release.

"We had a significantly comfortable flight."

The two-engine MRJ marks a new chapter for Japan's aviation sector, which last built a commercial airliner in 1962 -- the YS-11 turboprop that was discontinued about a decade later.

The MRJ is approximately 35-metres (115-feet) long, has a pointed nose and will seat about 80 passengers.

Mitsubishi Aircraft boasts that the fuel-efficient MRJ will offer more passenger comfort with lower operating costs, eyeing the booming regional jet sector.

China is also developing a similar-sized homegrown regional passenger jet, the ARJ21. It had its first test flight in 2008 and the initial commercial delivery is reportedly expected by the end of the year.

'Japan's pride!'

Mitsubishi Heavy would not disclose how much of the aircraft consists of Japanese components, but it is powered by two next-generation engines developed by Pratt & Whitney of the United States.

The company said the US parts are key and have helped it slash operating costs by about 20 percent.

The maiden flight by the Japanese passenger jet stirred excitement at home.

Japan's Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) will seat about 80 passengers and will 

compete with other jet manufacturers such as Brazil's Embraer and Canada's 

Bombardier (AFP Photo/Kazuhiro Nogi)

"We very much welcome the success of the first flight as it is a new beginning for the Japanese aircraft industry," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

"We hope that development for delivery of the first plane will go steadily and both public and private sectors will continue to work towards the success of this project."

On the live streaming website for the flight, one user tweeted: "This is a great achievement."

Another excited user simply wrote: "Japan's pride!"

Firms in Japan were banned from developing aircraft by US occupiers following the country's defeat in World War II.

Mitsubishi Heavy, a military contractor, built Japan's legendary "Zero" World War II fighter jet.

The country slowly started rebuilding its aviation industry in the 1950s, starting with carrying out repair work for the US military. It went on to expand its scope to start licensed production of US-developed aircraft for Japan's military.

Japanese firms have also long supplied parts to plane manufacturer Boeing.

Mitsubishi Heavy unveiled the jet in October last year and has received more than 400 orders.

It plans to make the first delivery to Japan's All Nippon Airways in 2017.

Mitsubishi's short-to-medium-haul regional jet was backed by the Japanese government and a consortium of major firms including Toyota.

Automaker Honda is also developing a small private jet in the United States, which was first unveiled in Japan earlier this year.

For China, its new passenger plane C919 represents at least seven years of

efforts in a state-mandated drive to reduce dependence on European consortium

Airbus and Boeing of the US (AFP Photo)

Related Article:

Chinacompletes production of own passenger plane

China completes production of own passenger plane

Yahoo – AFP, Bill Savadove, 2 Nov 2015

For China, its new passenger plane C919 represents at least seven years of 

efforts in a state-mandated drive to reduce dependence on European consortium

Airbus and Boeing of the US (AFP Photo)

Shanghai (AFP) - China's first big passenger plane rolled off the assembly line on Monday as the Asian giant seeks the prestige of having its own aviation sector, and to challenge foreign giants Airbus and Boeing for market share.

Workers spent over a year putting together the C919, a narrow-body jet which can seat 168 passengers, at the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC) facility in Shanghai.

China's first big passenger plane C919,

a narrow-body jet which can seat 168

 passengers, rolls off the assembly line in 

Shanghai, on November 2, 2015 (AFP

Photo)

For China, the plane represents at least seven years of efforts in a state-mandated drive to reduce dependence on European consortium Airbus and Boeing of the United States, and even compete against them.

"China's air transport industry cannot completely rely on imports. A great nation must have its own large commercial aircraft," the country's civil aviation chief Li Jiaxiang told an audience of government and industry officials.

A small truck towed the 39-metre long plane -- painted white with a green tail -- out of a cavernous building decorated with an enormous Chinese flag into the sunlight as project workers marched alongside, an AFP journalist saw.

"The roll out of the first C919 aircraft marks a significant milestone in the development of China's first indigenous aircraft," COMAC chairman Jin Zhuanglong told the ceremony.

The aircraft, which has a range of up to 5,555 kilometres (3,444 miles), will make its first test flight in 2016, he said -- meaning that it will miss the original deadline of this year.

The China Daily newspaper has reported the maiden voyage could even be put back to 2017.

China has dreamed of building its own civil aircraft since the 1970s when Jiang Qing, leader Mao Zedong's wife and a member of the notorious "Gang of Four", personally backed an attempt to do so. But the Y-10's heavy weight made it impractical and only three were ever made.

Although the C919 is made in China, foreign firms are playing key roles by supplying systems as well as the engines, which are made by CFM International, a joint venture between General Electric (GE) of the US and France's Safran.

A mock cockpit of a C919 passenger plane is seen at the research centre of

 Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC), in Shanghai, in 2014

(AFP Photo/Johannes Eisele)

More than 500 orders

Spending on the C919 has not been revealed. Last month, the Export-Import Bank of China said it would provide state-owned COMAC with $7.9 billion in finance for its aircraft projects.

The company already has orders for 517 of its C919 planes, according to a COMAC statement, almost all of them from domestic buyers. Among foreign customers, Thailand's City Airways has ordered 10, according to an announcement last month.

But it will take years for the C919 to be delivered to customers, with the plane expected to enter service in 2019 at the earliest, industry officials said.

"There's a lot of work to do still," said Briand Greer, president for Asia-Pacific of Honeywell Aerospace, which is supplying four key systems for the C919: flight control, wheels and brakes, auxiliary power units and navigation.

"A lot of testing, a lot of flight testing, systems integration testing and of course all the certification," he told AFP.

COMAC has already developed a smaller regional jet, the ARJ, in a project which is years behind schedule.

The Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China (COMAC) already has orders for 517 of its

 C919 planes, almost all of them from domestic buyers (AFP Photo/Johannes Eisele)

The 78-90 seat ARJ is still undergoing test flights and lacks the crucial certification by the US Federal Aviation Administration that would enable it to fly in US skies.

The Chinese company also plans a wide body plane, the C929, in cooperation with Russia's United Aircraft Corp., and speculation is mounting China will create a new aero-engine entity to try to produce the powerful jets needed for large civil aircraft.

China is expected to add 6,330 new aircraft worth $950 billion to its commercial fleet by 2034, Boeing estimates.

The single-aisle C919 targets the lucrative segment dominated by Boeing's 737 and the Airbus A320.

"Research and manufacturing of a big plane is complex," said China's Vice Premier Ma Kai, the highest government leader attending the ceremony. "There is still a long way to go to commercial operation."