China Planemaker Gets New Orders in Fight With Airbus, Boeing
By Bloomberg News Nov 11, 2014 1:11 AM ET 10 Comments Email Print
Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd. announced 30 new commitments for the C919, the nation’s first large passenger jet, as it attempts to break Boeing Co. (BA) and Airbus Group NV’s grip on the global aircraft market.
The state-owned company, also known as Comac, signed an initial agreement with China Merchants Bank Ltd.’s leasing unit, the planemaker said at at the Zhuhai Airshow in China today. Including today’s deal, Comac now has 430 orders from 17 clients for the 168-seat C919, the company said in a statement. Comac also reported getting pledges for 23 of its ARJ21-700s, including the first order from Africa.
“This will help the development of Chinese civil aviation,” Comac’s Chief Financial Officer Tian Min said in the statement.
The orders may help Shanghai-based Comac’s C919 get more acceptance among Chinese buyers, whose pledges have helped mask a shortage of overseas orders. Airbus and Chicago-based Boeing Co. both expect China’s economic boom to help the country become the world’s largest market for passenger planes by overtaking the U.S. in two decades.
GE Capital Aviation Services is the only confirmed foreign customer for the C919. The GE lessor signed a letter of intent to buy as many as 10 C919s at the Zhuhai Airshow in 2010. Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE will also supply engines for the aircraft through CFM International, a venture with Safran SA.
The C919’s first flight, which was previously scheduled for this year, is now set for 2015. Deliveries are set for 2018, delayed from 2016.
Comac aims to complete the full assembly of the C919 by August 2015 and conduct the first test flight by the end of next year, Yu Zemin, deputy general manager of COMAC Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Co., said at a conference in Shanghai in September.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Clement Tan in Hong Kong at
[email protected]
