Yep, last year I too was of the same mindset, that 100 this year would be great, but as Tomboy said, they nearly hit it, and they ramped up launches in December. So I think most predictions have been somewhere in 120-140 range this year, that is my prediction as well.
Different meanings In Chinese universe, another example is rainbow.We were expecting a light boat 轻舟货运飞船 but got a White Elephant))
CAS Space Founder and Chairman Yang Yiqiang said in february that 140 launches are expected this year.
Even if they can get launch costs lower than F9 (F9's margins are very high currently anyhow, AFAIK), the main bottleneck with unreuseable rockets is turnaround time. Being cheap doesn't matter if your production capacity is capped while reusable rockets can have turn around times as short as 1.5 to 2 weeks, possibly even lower as more advanced methane based rockets enter service.
No, this White Elephant is an instant noodle brand that once declined but has recently made a comeback;; they just bought advertising space on the payload.
