A business Plane Corp of China (Comac) C919 plane operated by China Japanese Airways in the course of the Singapore Airshow in Singapore, on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024.
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SINGAPORE — China’s homegrown airliner often is the newest challenger to Airbus and Boeing’s passenger jets, however an govt from Airbus stated he isn’t apprehensive.
The Comac C919 is “not going to rock the boat in particular,” Christian Scherer, chief govt officer of Airbus’s plane business enterprise, stated at a media roundtable on the sidelines of the Singapore Airshow.
“It looks a bit like an Airbus narrow body,” Scherer stated, tongue in cheek, noting that the C919 is “not very different” from what Airbus and Boeing have already got available in the market.
Scherer acknowledged that the C919 was a “legitimate effort” by China — however “the market is large enough for competition, we welcome the competition.”
“We don’t want to stick our head in the sand … it’s a normal thing to see more competition,” Scherer added.
Comac’s spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for remark.
Touted as a competitor to Boeing’s 737 and the Airbus 320, the Comac C919 is a slim physique jet developed by the Business Plane Company of China, or Comac. It was licensed by the Civil Aviation Administration of China in September 2022 and entered business service with China Japanese Airways in Could final yr.
The Comac C919 makes use of the identical engine as Airbus’s slim physique passenger jetliner the Airbus A320neo, powered by the CFM Worldwide LEAP engines.
Comac introduced on the sidelines of the air present on Tuesday that it had signed a take care of China’s Tibet Airways and finalized an order for 40 C919 and 10 ARJ21 jets from the Chinese language plane maker.
The ARJ21 jet is a brief to medium vary turbofan aircraft which may fly shorter distances and is used for regional flights.
Regardless that the C919 is licensed solely by Chinese language authorities, business consultants have stated it could possibly be an early competitor to the business aviation duopoly between Boeing and Airbus.
“The industry contacts we speak to believe the problems at Boeing, specifically the 737 Max, present an early opportunity for Comac,” Northcoast Analysis analyst Chris Olin beforehand informed CNBC.
— CNBC’s Nessa Anwar contributed to this story.