why? there are a total of two in service.
as i said before, c919 will not be considered for any military use until there are hundreds of them and the c929 is in service.
Has anybody seen any signs that PLAAF will take on C919 for VIP transport duties?
Not to mention that the 737NGs, A319 they operate for VIP and special missions though now 2 decades/1 decade are still fairly young. Being VVIP aircraft they generally have low flight hours vs your average airline equivalent. It’s the difference between a personal car and a taxi cab. This differs from the Air China Charters often used for Foreign state visits.
Still just about everyone expects them to change over to the 919 and ARJ21 over time but you’re not going to see such a change before the middle of this decade probably around the turn of the next.
As to C929 This a whole other kettle of fish.
first it actually has to be flown. Then production started.
For VVIP head of state visits the CCP uses Air China airliners. For the Paramount leader that’s the Boeing 747-8I though 737 and some Airbus also are chartered for use by lower ranking officials.
These aircraft fly VVIP but also Commercial so they put on more flight hours than a dedicated VVIP bird. This means a shorter lifespan as they take on more maintenance and metal fatigue over time. So eventually Air China will have to replace their 747-8I. However they have yet to issue a MOU for the C929. Even if they did The question is does the PLAAF keep the same arrangement? Back in the late 90s early 00 had purchased a 767 for use by Jiang Xi min as a dedicated VVIP bird. ( please let’s not rehash a 20+ year old debates.) My point is that the CCP and PLA could elect to procure a dedicated VVIP fleet of C929 following what they tried back then.
These would then be more available to CCP official's use due to not needing to have Air China make modifications and shuffle schedules and even receive self defense systems like DICRM and other military modifications ( air to air refueling, Satcom, EMP hardening) not normally available to commercial airliners.
