Are you saying Russia’s ambition doesn’t match their capabilities and they are arrogant ? I didn’t think so per se.
COMAC C919
- Thread starter Deino
- Start date
broadsword
Brigadier
He meant other countries, like those further south.
What is Russian fabulous black wing made of? I know it's carbon fiber but could Russian produce any carbon fiber for the wings of CR929 or even its own MC21-310 then? Here is the answer:
Which means Russian only began producing T-700 grade carbon fiber in 2026. Back to 2022-2023, under the west sanction, Russian has nothing to make wings for CR929 which was planned to have its first flight in 2025 then. And I suppose members of this forum know what T-700 means and thus know where the most of the 5.75t overweight of MC21-310 come from.
In early 2026, when Russian finally announced they could produce T-700 grade carbon fiber, China began to produce T-1200. If you were the chief designer or project manger, who would you choose to make the wings for C929?
How could Russia make wings for C929 if they even couldn't make wings for their own MC21-310 then? This is why we began to hear all these excuses from Russian side during this period of time.
Know-how was already obviously there(for a decade at this point). Re-certification trials with a different base material takes time, as does reinventing - and certifying again - parts of the plane no one likes to produce (from passenger seats to escape ramps).
In any case, the fiber problem was specific to Russia; China is not under these sanctions, and COMAC could/can proceed as usual.
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If the west wanted to hurt China the most, sanctioning existing Boeing and Airbus fleets of Chinese airlines like what they did to Russia would be a better option than sanctioning C919, since the former has far more numbers in China than the later. I don't know why my Russian friends here stubbornly insist that China hasn't any indigenous substitution plans for C919 though the evidence is far more than obvious. Do they really think if the West did so, China had no means to fight back to make them feel pain too? Have they ever wondered why the West hasn't done so if they could do it?
The most ridiculous thing I ever heard is that COMAC planed to build 75 or 100 units of C919 this year or last year, but it only be able to make 15 annually due to US deliberately slowing down the delivery of engines. Has any believer of these ever considered, which airlines would take in such amount of C919? Where are the pilots who fly them? Where are the workers who make them? I mean, can a manager just tell these newly recruited workers who has just completed their theorical training but never assemble an airplane before "We have a big order this year and I expect you to assemble two C919s every week"? Or can a pilot of Boeing 737 or Airbus 320 fly a C919 without re-training?
I know the source is from the mouth of a guy who is on the top level of COMAC. But regardless for what purpose he did so or if his words was mis-interpreted, I just don't believe it because it is against common sense.
*if* COMAC can build as many aircraft as it declared - the moment to take the market by storm is right here, because it takes so damn long (and for so much money) to get a new aircraft(for a lot of money), and a sizable chunk of the market/proposal(GTF users) sucks.
This should be the long-rumored CXF by @老王RR涡扇花动机 on Weibo. And if his information/claim is accurate, then we should be able to see the aircraft sometime next year (2027).
Maybe airlines buying airplanes is just like us buying cars. If one brand hasn't cars on shelf, we go to the dealer of another brand and drive the new car for vacation next day.
An air carrier is a business, which means it needs to consider how much profit it can get from the plane when it takes it in. COMAC is a new player even in Chinese market and C919 isn't a mature aircraft, which means more C919 in a carrier's fleet, less utilization rate the fleet has. A Chinese airline won't take in lots of brand new C919s to replace its old 737 or A320 fleet if they are not mature enough to outperform those old planes. Airlines want to receive new aircraft gradually to give the plane, their own air crews and ground stuff time to mature.
lcloo
Major
Your statement is generally acceptable but not entirely true, in the case of C919. The slow delivery rates of COMAC is due to slow engine delivery as well as components from contractors.
Many of the Chinese airlines are partially owned by the government, with controlling stakes. Which mean they have to follow state directives, including cutting reliance on Airbus and Boeing, especially Boeing. Any US ban can seriously disrupt China's civil aviation as what had happened to Russia's civil aviation.
And Trump- Biden -Trump adms has been proven to be confrontational with trade war, chip war, AI war, Chinese EV ban, Huawei ban , expanded entity list etc.
Chinese airlines will take in whole lot of C919 not just because of above mentioned, also because they need more new airliners the demand of which Airbus is not able to meet, and Boeing jets is politically not welcome (but accepted as bargain chip in trade war with US).
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